


CMSN Volume One

by crimsonSardonyx



Series: CMSN [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Bar Room Brawl, Burglary, Cardin is a dick, Child Abuse, Cinder and company take RWBY's place, Cinder does not have a small honest soul, Comedy, Emerald did not sign on for this much mayhem, Glynda does not get paid enough for this shit, It's all part of Ozpin's plan, Laws are for people who aren't Cinder, Lots of Grimm die, Marcus Black is the worst parent, Mercury had an awful childhood, Mercury is a smug little shit, Mute Neopolitan, Neo and Nora are awful influences on each other, Neo did not sign on for this little mayhem, Neo is Roman's niece, Roleswap, Snark, Together they fight Grimm, and each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-04-25
Packaged: 2018-05-14 17:49:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 38,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5752558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crimsonSardonyx/pseuds/crimsonSardonyx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cinder, Mercury, Emerald, and Neo attend the legendary Beacon Academy – as students, not saboteurs. While team CMSN struggles to find its footing, other forces set their plans in motion. Cinder’s determined to be a player, not a piece. She may even succeed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. C - Cinder Fall

C - Cinder Fall

           Forever Fall was beautiful. The forest was a permanent testament to the ephemeral wonder of autumn. Step into its groves, walk the winding paths, and the troubles of the outside world melt away. Things are calmer, quieter inside. Forever Fall compels admiration and demands respect. Those who venture in without proper preparation will be torn apart by Ursai or swallowed whole by larger, fiercer Grimm. The forest does not suffer fools or allow second chances.

           It was, Cinder reflected, a close second to an open flame. She strode forward, deeper into the woods. The Grimm had noticed her – how could they not? She wasn’t acting like prey, though, and for now they were content to wait and observe the interloper. Her eyes tracked the faint rustles in the foliage and snaps of breaking underbrush as she continued on.

           Forever Fall’s proximity to Beacon Academy meant there was always some group of novice Huntsmen and Huntresses skirmishing with the Grimm inside. They never managed to hold territory, of course, but the clearing she stepped into was testament to a more vigorous battle than most. The trees encircling the clearing were pitted with bullet holes and vicious rents, while others had been destroyed or uprooted. Standing in the center, Cinder had a good twenty yards of distance to the forest in any direction. Satisfied, she waited for the Grimm to make the first move.

           It didn’t take long for a group of Beowolves – too young to be cautious – to grow bored with the hunt and charge out of the woods, howling and snarling. Cinder drew her first Dust vial, opened it, and scattered the powder. As the first Grimm lunged, the Dust coalesced into a half-dozen lumped shards, each one drawing to a razor point. With a bit of Aura and a wave of her hand she launched the projectiles, each one the size of a fist, into the attacking Grimm. They tore through their targets, smashing into the ground behind them and throwing up clouds of leaves.

          Three were lucky enough to avoid the shards, and closed on her, but she was already moving. She grasped the blades sheathed at the small of her back and dove forward, landing behind the Beowolves. As they turned, recovering from their lunge, she planted a sword in the rightmost’s spine, then decapitated the second. The third swiped at her, claws flashing. She stepped toward the Beowolf, getting inside its strike. It opened its jaws wide, intending to tear her throat out, and she sank a blade deep into its neck.

           The reckless attack of the Beowolves was the signal the other Grimm had been waiting for, and now a wave of them poured through the trees, converging on her. Most were Beowolves, with a few Ursai, but she could hear the distinctive hiss of a King Taijitu in the distance. Cinder snapped her blades into a bow, drew an arrow, and began firing. The first shot took an Ursa in the eye, the second punched clean through a Beowolf, and the third was a point-blank shot to another. Then they were on her, and she separated the blades, leaping out of the way of a snarling Ursa.

           Cinder never slowed, never stilled. She dove under a charging Ursa, rolled to her feet, then flipped away from a Beowolf. Two more charged her and she kicked at the carpet of leaves beneath her feet, flaring Aura through her clothes as she did so. Her dress blazed with light and heat, igniting the leaves as they flew into the air. The wave of flame distracted the Beowolves long enough for her to skewer them. Cinder pulled her blades free, then ducked out of the way of an Ursa. She was always a whisper away from the Grimm’s claws and teeth, using their numbers against them, letting Ursai trample Beowolves and Beowolves trip one another up. Her blades cleaved through heads, limbs, anything she could reach. The Grimm charged her, eager to dispose of the intruder in their woods. They died as fast as they arrived.

           She emerged from the near-trance of _dodge, strike, evade, counter, leap, strike again_ when the Taijitu smashed into the clearing, scattering the still-standing trees like kindling. The lesser Grimm drew back, letting the massive serpent approach unobstructed. By now, her opponents numbered no more than a dozen, and most nursed at least one wound.

          The Taijitu drew closer, leading with its black head. When it was only a few meters away, it began to turn, circling her instead of approaching her. The snake completed its first coil and began again, cutting her off from any escape. Cinder calmed her breath and focused, returning her weapons to their sheathes at her back. She watched the smooth, unbroken flesh of the Taijitu slide past as the black scales were replaced with grey, then white, until the entire bottom coil was sheathed in white scales. The other head arrived and fixed its one visible eye on Cinder as it continued to slither. Three coils up, the second head drew back, preparing to strike. Cinder focused her aura as she turned to keep both in her peripheral vision, and waited. The lower head pushed towards her and snapped, feinting a real attack. The upper head tensed and lunged for her, mouth gaping wide, fangs glinting.

           She was already turning, hands open, Aura flaring, and Cinder caught the Taijitu by the jaw and held it, roaring, inches from her face. Her clothing threw off waves of heat as the Dust within supplemented her Aura. The leaves underfoot crisped and smoked as the Taijitu redoubled its efforts to close its jaws around her head. She focused, martialed her Aura, and sent a torrent of searing flame down the snake’s throat. Errant flames spilled out around its jaws and the temperature around them skyrocketed, pushing the bounds of what she could comfortably handle. The leaves ignited in a circle around her as she focused the flames hotter still.

           The other head screamed and thrashed, and the Grimm broke. They scattered, fleeing from their predator. Cinder shoved the Taijitu’s head away and leapt over its thrashing coils, away from its death throes. She uncorked and fired another Dust vial before she hit the ground. Her second vial contained fire Dust, and she spread it wide, igniting the clearing’s perimeter, trapping the Grimm within. Cinder picked the Grimm off calmly, carefully, one arrow at a time.

            The last Beowolf was desperate enough to bull through the Dust-enhanced flames, and Cinder’s aim was fouled by the fire and smoke. Her arrow struck it in the leg, sending it crashing to the ground and throwing up a cloud of smoldering leaves. The Beowolf scrambled away from the fire and death that filled the clearing. It made it perhaps a dozen meters before Cinder caught up to it and sunk her blade into its skull.

           Cinder turned to examine her handiwork. The flames and smoke obscured most of the clearing, and already the corpses were evaporating into the distinctive black miasma unique to Grimm. It mingled with the acrid smoke and burning leaves, clouding the sky further. At the center of the clearing, the Taijitu finally stilled as the flames reached it.

           The Forever Fall Forest was in no danger of burning down; the only reason this section had caught fire so readily was because most of the trees were left dead by the last group of Huntsmen to battle in the clearing. Satisfied that she had no further obligations there, Cinder departed deeper into the forest. She’d need more Grimm to practice on. Beacon Academy only accepted the best, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we go. Updates will go out once a week. Thank you all for reading, and I hope to see you back here next week for Mercury's intro!


	2. M - Mercury Black

M – Mercury Black

 

The crowd jostled for position on the warehouse roof. Those with poor views clambered onto air conditioners and peered over shoulders. It was a good crowd: half again as large as usual. As the back of the crowd pushed forward, the front of the crowd edged back, careful not to cross into the painted ring encompassing most of the roof. Mercury turned leisurely in the center of the ring, scanning the crowd. Most of them wore simple, bland clothing in a variety of drab colors. Workers, teenagers, petty criminals. Background. The red sunglasses and ties of the Xiong thugs were easy to spot. They didn’t run the fights, but they’d be keeping an eye on the talent.

The announcer was winding the crowd up with a speech about his opponent’s skill and accomplishments. Mercury tuned it out: He’d won the last five bouts and the thrill was wearing thin. The crowd was getting stingier with their bets, too. He’d need to find a new source of income soon. The Xiong family would be happy to hire him, but he didn’t like the strings that came attached to their jobs.

The crowd parted around the challenger as they pushed towards the ring. Mercury refocused, bouncing on his feet as he waited for them to arrive. His greaves vibrated in response, cocking and uncocking in tune with his movements. His prosthetics still ached occasionally, but he had mastered their use years ago. The payments from the fights kept them in working order – he hadn’t had one fail for weeks. Aura kindled and dimmed at his command. He was ready.

The last of the crowd stepped out of the challenger’s way, letting Mercury see his opponent. He was ready for a novice trying to look intimidating. He was ready for an opponent trying to look unconcerned. He wasn’t ready for three –  _three! -_  thugs to stare him down as they entered the ring. Cursing himself for not listening better, he focused on the end of the announcer’s speech:

“…We’ll see if these odds are enough to pose a challenge to our champion. Betting is now closed. Fighters! Begin!”

This was deliberate. Occasionally, they stacked the odds like this, but everyone involved was informed beforehand. He’d been told nothing. Maybe the fights had gotten too boring; maybe he’d offended someone important. It wouldn’t be too hard to bribe the announcer to go along with it. It didn’t matter. He’d gotten trusting, and this was the result. They’d beat him to a pulp, then haul him out of the ring and away from prying eyes. After that, they'd either finish the job or just leave him with a few broken bones, if they were feeling merciful.

_Like hell._

Mercury refocused on his opponents. Quarterstaff, pickaxe, spear. Spear Boy advanced on him as Quarterstaff Girl and Pickaxe Guy circled around, flanking. Some idle part of his brain pointed out that Spear Boy was quite young. Young enough, in fact, to wear imitation Grimm trophies on a necklace like it made him more intimidating. He was grinning, making little jabs with the spear as he swaggered forward. The spear looked designed to telescope down to a more portable size. Spear Boy had likely repurposed it from some telescoping factory hydraulics. The spearhead had a salvaged look to it as well, and had been welded to the body of the spear.

The other two stepped out of Mercury’s peripheral vision and Spear boy lunged. Mercury hopped back, leaning his weight onto his left foot and meeting the spear with his right. The spear glanced off his greaves, deflected upwards. Spear Boy kept the momentum, flipping the weapon and swiping at Mercury’s head with the spear butt. Mercury dodged backwards, watching Spear Boy’s teammates, but he was almost out of room. He planted his foot, halting his retreat a scant meter from the edge of the ring and a ring-out loss. Mercury snapped a kick at Spear Boy, firing a blast from his greaves. Spear Boy pulled his weapon up into a two-handed block, but the force still sent him stumbling back a few steps. Rather than resume the attack, he retreated further and collapsed and expanded his spear, checking for damage.

Quarterstaff Girl and Pickaxe Guy moved in as Spear Boy retreated, attacking in unison. Mercury stepped back again, putting his back to the ring and keeping them in front of him. Mercury spun away from a heavy overhead swing from Pickaxe. The heavy weapon punched through the roof nearly to the base of the blade. Mercury lifted his left foot to embed the pickaxe deeper into the roof. Quarterstaff swung for his ribs, and he twisted to block that attack instead. If he let them, they’d keep harrying him until they pushed him over the edge of the ring. Taking the offensive, Mercury dropped to the ground. He caught himself on his hands and fired a short salvo from his greaves. The force sent Quarterstaff stumbling back, but she managed to block every shot. Pickaxe stepped in, harassing him with short swipes. His pickaxe wasn't made for it, but it kept Mercury from pressing his advantage. Changing targets, Mercury spun his legs in a circle beneath him, smashing them into Pickaxe’s knees and sending him tumbling to the ground. He bounced to his feet, ready to deflect another attack from Quarterstaff. It never came - she was retreating. Her staff collapsed like a tent pole and locked into a ring of foot-long cylinders with a grip at one end.

Mercury kicked Pickaxe in the gut. His aura, a muddy brown, flashed into existence to take the blow, than faded to nothing. Pickaxe groaned and curled into a ball, cradling his midsection. Instincts singing, Mercury danced sideways, following the curve of the ring, relocating his opponents. Spear Boy had finished repairing his weapon in the center of the ring. Pickaxe was showing no signs of recovery. Halfway across the ring, Quarterstaff snapped a box of ammunition into her weapon. It now resembled a sawed-off minigun, but she couldn’t fire without hitting the crowd and disqualifying herself. Before she could find a better angle, Mercury charged Spear Boy. He lead with another blast from his greaves, trying to damage the spear again. Spear Boy dove into a roll, dodging the shot and closing the distance between them. As he did so, his spear collapsed into a dagger. Mercury's blast screamed over Spear Boy’s head, straight towards the crowd. Spear Boy emerged from the roll in a lunge, thrusting the dagger at Mercury's belly. Focusing, Mercury diverted the dust-laced projectile. He sent the blast up and out of the ring, just missing the spectators. The lapse in focus cost him, though. His dodge was slow and clumsy, giving Spear Boy a perfect opening. He took it, smashed his dagger into Mercury's midsection, and extended it.

The pneumatic spear blasted Mercury off his feet, sending him flying in an arc towards the edge of the ring. A small corner of his mind concluded that Spear boy struck him at an angle. He’d been thrown up as well as back, giving him time to recover. The rest of him focused on the screaming pain in his stomach. His Aura’d taken the worst of it, but it was still excruciating.

Mercury ignored the pain as best he could as he fired a blast from both greaves. The recoil brought his feet up and his head down, pointing him roughly at Spear boy. Quarterstaff was running towards Spear Boy, spinning up her minigun. Mercury fired his greaves again and again, canceling his momentum from the spear strike. He kept shooting, flinging himself back at Spear Boy, faster and faster. Quarterstaff opened fire, but his Aura deflected the few rounds that connected. Mercury bent his knees and fired one last time, flipping himself around in midair. He passed under Spear boy’s attack by inches and crashed into him feetfirst.  Spear Boy hadn't planted his feet, and both of them went flying back into Quarterstaff. All three smashed into an AC unit on the other end of the ring.

Mercury's stomach was a knot of terrible pain. If he’d eaten anything recently it’d be all over the floor. His opponents weren't moving at all, though, putting him ahead. He pulled himself to his feet, leaning on the remains of the air conditioner. His Aura had held. His opponents were unconscious, but didn’t appear to have suffered Aura failure either. That was good - the cops would turn a blind eye to a fight ring. They tended to make good bribe money off it, in fact. They'd be much less willing to overlook a corpse. Feeling a little calmer, Mercury checked on the audience. The crowd was awed, the thugs impressed, but Mercury focused on the announcer. He met Mercury’s eyes with an expression of terrified dismay. Mercury straightened up and managed two steps towards him. As he took a third, someone slipped a rod over Mercury’s neck and pulled it tight. 

Instinctively, his hands flew to the makeshift garrote. Mercury tugged and squirmed, but couldn’t get the leverage or the force to pull it free. He kicked at his assailant’s knees, but his attacker slammed him into the wrecked AC unit. Mercury struggled, flaring his Aura, but couldn't put any momentum behind his kicks. He could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears. Twisting his head, Mercury glimpsed the head of a pickaxe at the end of the staff that was choking him.

Mercury noted “Should have made sure Pickaxe was actually down” were awful last words.

 The rush of blood in his ears grew louder and louder. Mercury’s vision swam and fuzzed as he struggled with his captor. The crowd might have been yelling, or silent, or nonexistent. He couldn’t hear anything over his own frantic heartbeat. Pain spiked through his head with each pulse.

Abstractly, Mercury realized he was in trouble. He couldn’t bring himself to care that he couldn't feel his fingers, even though they were clawing at the pickaxe choking him. He couldn’t feel his legs at all, and that was only normal for his lower legs, which were now -

_weapons –_

Mercury fired both greaves straight down.

The warehouse roof buckled beneath them.

Pickaxe screamed.

Mercury sucked in a tremendous gulp of air as they fell.

 

Everything hurt, but that was better than the numbness that had crept through his body towards the end. Mercury rolled off of Pickaxe, pulled himself to his feet, and limped towards the exit. Thinking better of it, he turned back to check on Pickaxe. Finding a pulse was easy – the burly fighter had one of the strongest Auras Mercury’d seen. It had protected him from any permanent damage. Conscience satisfied, Mercury trudged out of the warehouse. His Aura was almost depleted, but it took the edge off his injuries. The climb to the roof was easier than he expected: he only stopped to catch his breath twice. On the roof, the announcer quietly handed him his earnings for the night and slunk away. Mercury let him go – his departure would lose the ring its prizefighter, more than enough revenge. He was far too exhausted to contemplate how he could kill a man in front of dozens of witnesses and get away with it, anyway. The spectators remained awed and silent, and he departed with no further incident.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week: Emerald.


	3. S - Emerald Sustrai

S – Emerald Sustrai

 

            Going after the safe had been a mistake. She’d made a tidy profit off of the patrons, but it just hadn’t been enough. The Club was one of the most popular nightclubs in the city, although not the most creatively named. Tens of thousands of lien flowed through it every day, to say nothing of its illegal enterprises, run by the Xiong family. She wasn’t going to leave it with less lien than she could spend in a month. It would be like eating one solitary grape at a banquet, or something equally boring and restrained.

            Sprinting through a filthy alleyway, Emerald was beginning to appreciate the merits of boring and restrained. The yells and footfalls of her pursuers were closing in, but she still had time. She rounded a corner, leaning into the turn at such an angle she almost tipped over. Regaining her balance, Emerald leapt onto a dumpster without breaking stride, then jumped again, reaching for the edge of the roof overhead. Her fingertips brushed the shingles, and then she was past her apex and falling to the ground. Emerald threw herself into a somersault as she landed, and came up running without activating her Aura.

            Emerald kept moving, trying to calculate the best route from what little she remembered of the district. She’d come up with two plausible-sounding options when a thug – wearing the Xiong family’s trademark red - stepped into her path and opened fire. She didn’t backpedal or dodge; if anything, she accelerated. The goon kept shooting, but the darkness protected her. She leapt, slamming into him feetfirst and knocking him to the ground. Emerald bounced to her feet as he collapsed, but two more guards were charging toward her, and the sounds of pursuit from behind were growing louder.

            Turning, she sprinted back the way she came, ducking and weaving as her pursuers tried to hit her. Turning back was just delaying the inevitable, but Emerald wasn’t willing to take the chance that the way forward was also packed with goons. She bounded back onto the dumpster as the other exit to the alley was blocked by suited mobsters. Emerald didn’t slow down, making one desperate jump for the roof again. She managed to snag the edge with one hand. As the mobsters closed in, she pushed Aura into the rooftop, trying to keep the old shingles from giving way beneath her.

            Her handhold held. The grunts opened fire, but she was already pulling herself up and onto the rooftop. Most of the bullets missed, whizzing off into the starry night. The few that connected were stopped by her Aura, and then she was up and running again, putting as much distance between them and her as possible. She jumped to another low roof, then made an Aura-assisted leap across an intersection. After the exertion of the last few minutes, she was beginning to deplete her meager Aura reserves, but she was almost safe.

            Emerald continued across the rooftops, heading deeper into the urban sprawl. Her last stop was an apartment building, twice the height of the surrounding pawnshops and corner stores. She scrambled up the outside of the old fire escape, finding hand-and-footholds without trouble. Reaching the top, Emerald pulled herself up and onto the roof, then turned back to look for pursuit.

            She could see Club thugs swarming through the streetlights below, but they seemed to be focused north, where she’d given them the slip. Occasionally, a bright white light would streak from one area to another: One of the Semblances of the Malachite twins, no doubt. They were approaching Emerald’s apartment building, but would pass it by several blocks, given their current trajectory.

            Satisfied she was in no immediate danger, Emerald sat down to catalogue her loot. The thug had surprised her halfway through opening the safe, but she’d lifted a half-dozen wallets before attempting the safe, not to mention a purse she’d snagged from the VIP area on her way out. Emptying the wallets one at a time, she came up with two thousand lien. The purse was expensive red leather, and she opened it with great anticipation.

            Five hundred-odd lien: cash. Jewelry: cheap, but could go for a hundred or so. Assorted cosmetics: Used, no real resale value. She pocketed the money, then turned back to the purse. There was nothing else obviously apparent, but Emerald ran her fingers over the interior, feeling for a hidden catch or flap. Her thoroughness rewarded her, and she fished a small plastic square out of a hidden pouch on the side of the purse. Risking a light from her scroll, she examined it more closely. The plastic was a housing for a small disk of Dust that pulsed like a heartbeat. One side of it was glowing, while the other side remained inert. The other side of the square was marked with the Schnee snowflake.

            Pacing around the rooftop, Emerald discovered that the lit section always pointed in the same direction. The pulses were, she was confident, growing faster. Following the device to the edge of the roof, she saw the flash of Melanie’s Semblance arriving on an adjacent, though much lower, rooftop.

            Everything came together, and Emerald pitched the tracker off the rooftop as hard as she could. The twins were already moving again, though, and Emerald barely dove out of the way as Melanie’s Semblance threw her and her sister to Emerald’s rooftop. Emerald rolled to her feet and drew her revolvers, training them on the enforcers. Miltia and Melanie released one another’s arms and advanced on the thief, faint smiles pulling at their lips.

            Trying to remain calm, Emerald backed away from the twins, trying to remember what she’d researched before embarking on the job. Melanie was the mover: she’d carried her sister across the rooftops, following the tracker in what was likely Miltia’s purse. Miltia’s Semblance concealed: No-one would hear gunfire or see their fight unless they wandered into the middle of it.

            “Melanie, I told you she wouldn’t notice the tracker.” Miltia drawled.

            Melanie rolled her eyes. “So, how did you not see it? It wasn’t _that_ well hidden.”

            “You got me.” Emerald shrugged, keeping her voice steady and calm. “No-one else has to know you did, though. We can split what I stole and all leave here happy.”

            “Or, we could teach you a lesson, then take back everything.”

            “That’d make us _so_ much happier.”

            Emerald opened her mouth to make another offer, then bit back her remark. She wasn’t going to beg-and never to them. Instead, she forced a smile to her lips. It resembled a smile, anyway. It would be more accurate to say she bared her teeth. “Come and take it, then.”

            As one, the twins lunged forward. Emerald darted towards Miltia, trying to keep her between Melanie and herself. She snapped off a few shots from her revolvers as she ran, but Miltia shrugged them off with no trouble. The rounds were plain lead, with no Dust enhancements, and Miltia had Aura to spare. Emerald tried to focus on Melanie, but she couldn’t get a clear shot without giving the white twin an opportunity to close the distance with her.

            Miltia pressed towards Emerald, but her heels stumbled and slipped on the cracked roof. Emerald managed to keep out of range of her claws as she continued to circle around, snapping off the occasional shot. Whenever Miltia got close, she’d shoot her, driving her back and giving Emerald much-needed breathing room. She took another step back, and the heel of her shoe met empty space. Taking advantage of her momentary distraction, Miltia made another swipe at her midsection. Emerald squeezed her trigger again, but the revolver clicked empty.

            Miltia’s claws slammed into her midsection, sending Emerald tumbling back. As she fell, Miltia deliberately overextended herself, bending down to let Melanie swing herself over her sister and deliver a kick to Emerald’s falling form.

            Emerald snapped her right arm out as she tumbled backwards, extending the sickle blade concealed in the revolver’s barrel. The blade caught on the floor of the fire escape, throwing up rust and sparks. The metal shrieked in protest, but it held. Emerald’s impromptu anchor diverted her fall, sending her crashing to the escape’s floor one story down. The ancient metal groaned, tremors running through the structure.

            Melanie bounded off the roof, then activated her Semblance in midair, rocketing back towards where Emerald lay prone. Forcing herself to move, Emerald rolled to her right, dropping onto the stairs leading down to the next level. The escape shook and creaked as Melanie slammed into it, but it maintained its grip on the wall. As Melanie sunk to one knee, trying to keep her balance, Emerald tossed one revolver over the twin’s shoulders from her position on the stairway, keeping a hand by the chain it attached to. She let about four meters of chain play out, then tightened her grip, arresting the revolver’s momentum. As it dropped, the chain landed over Melanie’s shoulders, pulling the revolver back towards Emerald.

            She caught it, then rolled off the stairs, pulling the chain tight and yanking Melanie to the floor. The chain was tight around her neck, impossible to reach with her weapons. Miltia stepped onto the fire escape, then stepped off when it creaked and groaned with her added weight. Two stories down, Emerald pulled herself upside-down, pressing her feet into the fire escape landing and tightening the chain further. With the hand holding her revolver – the revolver with a bullet still loaded – she took aim at Melanie.

            Her Aura was considerably weaker than her sister’s, having used it to carry the two of them across the city. When Emerald took aim, Melanie activated her Semblance again, launching herself upwards. Tethered as she was to the fire escape, she tore the top two stories off the wall and pulled them with her. Emerald found herself flattened against the fire escape as she rose into reach of Miltia. Emerald tried to disengage from the structure, but Miltia grabbed her as she dropped and flung her across the roof. She’d let go of her revolver, but not the chain, and as it whipped past, Miltia grabbed it, pulling her to a halt halfway across the rooftop.

            Melanie jumped clear of the escape as it crashed back down, pulling the remaining stories free of the building and sending them all crashing to the ground. She used her Semblance again to reach the rooftop, and stumbled as she landed, exhausted.

            Emerald yanked on her revolver’s chain, but Miltia held it tight and let Emerald draw her a little closer. The two were separated by three meters of rooftop, and Miltia continued to pull Emerald closer, grabbing segment after segment of chain. Emerald tried again to pull away, but Miltia had the chain wrapped around her arm, and continued to advance. As the red-clad thug drew closer, Emerald snapped her revolver’s cylinder open, pulling out a speed-loader from one of her pockets. Miltia took advantage of the distraction, closing the distance until barely a meter of chain separated them.

            Emerald dropped the speed-loader and extended the blade Miltia hadn’t immobilized, managing to deflect a swipe across her ribs. She continued to retreat, but Miltia kept a firm grip on her chain, and every attack Emerald made at that arm was blocked or deflected.

            Melanie pulled herself to her feet and hobbled towards her sister, but she hardly needed the help. Emerald’s Aura was failing, and every blow she blocked staggered her a little more. If she dropped the chain and fled, she might have stood a chance, but she refused to abandon one of her weapons. She dodged and blocked, occasionally managing to deflect a blow with the chain, but Miltia continued to close the distance, and her Aura was in no danger of depletion.

            As they reached the edge of the roof, Emerald made a desperate overhand slash at Miltia. The twin yanked Emerald closer, letting the attack swing wide as she buried her claws in Emerald’s chest.

            Her Aura flickered at the wound, keeping the blood in as Emerald wavered on the edge of the rooftop. Miltia pulled her claws out, releasing the chain and letting her body fall. The ground was concrete, five stories down. Her Aura gave out well before she hit.

            Melanie limped over to Miltia and peered over the edge. Satisfied, she leaned back and turned to her twin.

            “Couldn’t you have killed her in a less, like, messy way? I’m not going through _those_ pockets.”

            “Let the hired help get it. It’s what we’re paying them for, right?”

            “Totally. Grab on, let’s get off this roof.”

            They vanished in a blur of white light, leaving the rooftop deserted.

            After a few moments, the wall directly beneath where Miltia ran Emerald through blurred and distorted, revealing Emerald, anchored by her sickle. The corpse on the pavement below flickered and faded, leaving no evidence it was ever there. Emerald heaved herself onto the rooftop, then collapsed in the fetal position, massaging away a searing headache.

            In time, she climbed to her knees, then her feet. The door to the apartment stairwell took ten seconds to pick, and then she was through. Emerald emerged onto the street, faded back into the doorway as a group of Club thugs strolled by, then stepped out and strolled away in the other direction. The streets were packed with people, and she disappeared into the crowd in moments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three down, one to go. Next week, Neo's intro goes up, and then we get to the proper chapters. See you then!


	4. N - Neopolitan

N – Neopolitan

 

            The name The Old Cricket didn’t do the bar justice. A handful of fluorescent lights cast flickering light into the dingy interior. The booths were cracked, flaking imitation leather. (Faux leather was a strictly better class of fake.) Underneath the tables were fossilized mounds of gum dating back decades. The gutters were overwhelmed by the lightest rains, and had completely surrendered to the pouring rain. The Decrepit Cricket would have been a better name, or even The Mummified Cricket. The Embalmed Cricket, Roman Torchwick thought with vindictive satisfaction. The drinks certainly tasted like formaldehyde.

            The door stuck. The door always stuck. Roman rattled the knob for a moment, than gave up and applied a little Aura. The door snapped open with deceptively little resistance. Unprepared, Roman stumbled, keeping his feet only with the help of his cane. Putting one hand to his bowler hat, he made his way inside with the careful steps of a drunk.

            He’d barely made it past the threshold when a brawny faunus interposed himself between him and the bar. Coming to a halt, Roman made a point of taking his time to acknowledge the bouncer. Thickset and burly, Brutus was an intimidating figure without the tusks, which extended forward a good six inches. His trunk swayed forward and back at midchest, obscuring and revealing the large white SECURITY written across his shirt.

            “Hello, Brutus.” Roman began, stuffing his voice full of false cheer.

            “Roman. Do we have to do this every time?”

            “In this dive? Smoking _improves_ the ambiance. I’d think you of all people would appreciate-“

            Brutus managed, without saying anything or moving much, to convey that finishing that sentence would result in a very brief stay in the Cricket and an unpleasant departure.

            With a sigh, Roman threw up his hands, opening the one that wasn’t holding his cane. “I am a paying customer, you know.”

            “Not yet.” Brutus rumbled.

            Acquiescing, Roman stubbed out his cigar in a nearby ashtray and made his way to the bar. This involved considerably more maneuvering past other patrons than he was used to. For the first time he could remember, the bar was full of customers. Continuing on, Roman ducked under an antler, stepped over a tail, and dodged a wing before realizing something was up. Scanning the crowd, he confirmed that nearly all the other patrons were faunus of various types. Roman rolled his eyes and turned back to the bar. Sliding onto an unoccupied stool, he called to the bartender, “Whisky.”

            The patron next to him – a thin, blonde man with mouse ears peeking out of his hair – turned to greet him, but faltered when he saw Roman’s face.

            “I don’t believe I know you.” He said.

            “I’m positive I don’t know you.” Roman replied. “Is there any reason I should?”

            “I suppose not, actually.” The faunus laughed. “Just thought you were another one of the workers.”

            “Workers, huh? So that’s what this is about. What’re all of you doing here?” Roman asked, making a halfhearted attempt to continue the conversation before turning to beckon the overworked bartender.

            The man grinned and leaned in closer. “We’re waiting to relieve the current strikers at Atlas’s local manufacturing plant.”

            Roman’s head snapped back around, completely ignoring the bartender.

            “The weather’s been awful lately, so we’ve been cycling in and out every so often to get our people warm and dry for a while.”

            Roman stared incredulously at him for a moment, then turned to face him full-on.

            “First”, he began, “That’s idiotic.”

            The striker’s friendly smile vanished.

            “You’re going to cripple Vale’s largest weapons provider because they didn’t provide enough dental?” Roman asked sardonically. “We need what they produce to fight Grimm, if you didn’t know.”

            Silence rippled outward from their conversation.

            “While you’re in here drinking, huntsmen and soldiers are risking their lives. The least you could do is support them – as much as you ingrates can, anyway.”

            Brutus stared ceilingward as he closed his eyes in silent exasperation.

            “You think you’re changing something? Making things better? Two weeks from now, you’ll be back to work with no changes, so why not get it over with?”

            Brutus started pushing towards the bar. Two strikers stepped into his path.

            “All you’re doing is giving the few honest faunus left in Vale a bad name. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if some of you anim-“

            That was as far as he got before the resident of the stool behind him stood up. In one fluid motion, she reached over the bar, grabbed a bottle, and cracked him over the head with it with a dull thud. Roman’s Aura hadn’t been up, and the blow badly dazed him and dropped him to his knees. Growling, he managed to drive a foot into his assailant’s kneecap as he groped for both Aura and Melodic Cudgel, his cane.

            Brutus began shoving people out of the way, forcing his way through the crowd. He made it almost halfway before someone smashed a chair over his head. He collapsed, nearly flattening two workers.

            The striker leader Roman was chatting with kicked him in the jaw, sending him crashing backwards. Roman tried to marshal his Aura, but his head was ringing and the kick had only made it worse. Melodic Cudgel was out of reach. His assailant was winding back for another kick. Roman curled up, trying to protect his vitals. The striker landed a blow, then another. Roman’s own Aura was shielding him from the worst of it, but he just couldn’t concentrate, and more and more people were landing strikes now, draining what Aura he could muster at an alarming rate.

            The leader reached into his pocket, withdrawing a butterfly knife. He spun it through his fingers, shifting it from open to closed and back again before settling on open. The other workers cleared away as he knelt by Roman and readied his knife.

            At the other end of the bar, Neopolitan smashed through a window, umbrella first. Furling it, she careened into a hapless faunus and kicked off from his head, knocking him to the ground. Neo landed a dozen yards away from Roman and kept running. She ducked a swung bar stool, letting it incapacitate a worker chasing her, then vaulted the bar, avoiding a tackle.

            The leader pulled Roman to his feet with his knife at his throat, keeping him between Neo and himself. Neo skidded to a halt, nearly within reach.

            “Stay right where you are,” the leader barked, “Or I _will_ kill him.”

            Complying, Neo raised her hands and stepped forward, placing her umbrella on the bar. Roman’s initial assailant stepped forward and swung her bottle again, aiming for her head.

            The bottle encountered no resistance as it passed through where her head should have been, shattering the illusion. Pieces rained down around the bar before fading into nonexistence. The leader tightened his grip on the faintly stirring Torchwick, searching for any sign of Neo. He approached the bar, searching for a telltale hint of pink or brown. He found nothing until she dropped down from the ceiling fan she had perched on, shattering her second illusion.

            Neo hooked his knife arm with her umbrella, pulling it away from Roman’s neck as she kicked him in the face, sending him stumbling back. She launched herself backwards with the kick, crashing into another attacker and knocking him into the wall. As he slumped to the ground, Neo caught Roman mid-collapse and heaved him over the bar and into relative safety. Turning to face the crowd of faunus, she awaited their attack.

            She didn’t wait long. As one, the workers charged her. Flipping her umbrella and grasping it by the point, she hooked the frontmost attacker’s leg and pulled it out from under him, sending him crashing to the floor and tripping several others. Neo flipped her umbrella again and unfurled it in the face of another attacker, sending her reeling back. Then the crowd was on her and she darted into the thick of the brawl. Her small stature worked to her advantage – while she landed blows with her umbrella, jabbing and clubbing at her opponents, most of the injuries the strikers sustained came from other strikers. She dodged instead of blocking, letting their momentum carry them into their allies. Anyone unlucky enough to fall or be knocked down was trampled into submission by booted feet.

            Neo twisted away from a grapple, hooked another combatant with her umbrella, and pulled him into an oncoming brawler. She ducked a wild swing with a chair that flattened two others, retaliating with a jab to the gut that sent the attacker gasping to the ground. More and more workers abandoned telegraphed punches and swings in favor of simply getting a hold of her for another to finish off, but the crush of bodies afforded countless opportunities to shake off a grapple.

            As the brawl dwindled, leaving more and more workers sprawled unconscious across furniture and carpet, the fight became marginally more organized. The strikers still on their feet – half a dozen – formed a loose ring around Neo, waiting for someone else to make the first move.

            An especially brawny faunus attacked first, swinging fists the size of Neo’s head. The other faunus maintained the ring, preventing her from escaping. Neo sidestepped the bruiser, dodged her uppercut, ducked under her right cross, avoided a kick, and continued giving ground. The other faunus moved with them, keeping the combatants in the center. Neo hopped backwards, evading another punch, but bumped into a table, arresting her retreat. The bruiser’s fist passed inches in front of her, but she was already winding up for another blow.

            Neo snapped her umbrella around in an arc, then pulled it straight back to her, hooking her opponent in the knee. Her leg buckled, and Neo pulled herself around the striker as she fell, adding her weight to the fall and slamming her through the table. She didn’t rise again.

            Behind her, one of the strikers stepped forward, opening a can of mace. Neo spun away from the caustic spray, knocking his hand away with the tip of her umbrella. Instead of retreating again, Neo darted forward, grabbing her attacker’s hand and shoulder from behind. Applying all her Aura-assisted strength, Neo pulled the worker into a stumbling turn, keeping the mace spraying. She tagged three more faunus, though the last, the leader, ducked out of the way, then twisted her captive’s arm and sprayed him with his own mace. He collapsed with an inarticulate scream.

            Neo turned to face the leader. He held his knife in one hand and had acquired brass knuckles for the other. With a roar of inarticulate rage, he charged her. Neo stood her ground as he thundered forwards, waiting for him to arrive. As he stabbed down at her with his knife, she _moved_ , vanishing from where she stood and reappearing behind him. With a twist of the handle, a shining blade slid from the tip of her umbrella. She stabbed it forward and down, gashing the edge of his leg open in a painful, nonfatal wound.

            He howled and spun around, slashing wildly with his knife. Neo furled her umbrella and retracted the blade as she stepped out of reach, then closed the distance and unfurled her umbrella in his face. He reeled back and rose to his feet as she darted around him, placing her back to one of the bar’s windows. He’d learned caution, though, and advanced carefully, giving her no momentum to work with. When he reached her, he made a quick jab with his knife, hoping to provoke her into a dodge. Instead, his knife shattered the illusion of Neo. Almost simultaneously, Neo, outside the bar, smashed her umbrella through the bar’s window. Two showers of glass – one illusionary, one real – crashed to the ground as Neo hooked her umbrella around her opponent’s neck and pulled him through the remains of the window.

            He landed heavily on the sidewalk, tried to rise, and received a kick to the midsection for his trouble. Surrendering, he lapsed into unconsciousness. In the rain outside the bar, Neo bobbed a curtsy to the unconscious bodies, and then went to scrape Roman off the floor, pausing first to clean her blade on someone’s shirt and secondly to retrieve Melodic Cudgel from where it fell. She hopped over the bar to find Roman propped against the wall with a knife in hand. He relaxed when he saw her, straightening up and slipping his knife back into his boot. Neo moved to stop him from standing, but he pushed her away.

            “I’m fine, Neo. They didn’t get that many hits in, and I’ve already healed the worst of it.”

            She arched her eyebrow at him, but handed him his walking stick without further comment.

            Roman accepted it and made his way towards the door, leaning more heavily on it than he might like. Neo followed, watching him for any further signs of injury. As he reached the exit, he turned back to her.

            “Neo, you didn’t use your sword on any of them, did you?”

            Neo adopted an expression of perfect innocence.

            “Neo…”

            Slumping and rolling her eyes, she drew her umbrella’s blade completely free of its sheath, holding it out to him for inspection.

            “Should I ask about broken bones?”

            Neo resheathed her weapon and gave him another “ _You’re kidding, right?”_ look.

            Roman sighed in defeat and exited the bar. Half a block later, he turned to her again.

            “Neo, grateful as I am for the rescue, why exactly were you hanging around this awful bar at this time of the night?”

            She smiled and balanced her umbrella on her shoulder, freeing her hands for a few seconds of signs.

            _I got good news. Thought you’d like to know._

            Nothing else was forthcoming. Roman continued along the road for another minute before turning back to her.

            “All right, I’ll bite. What’s so important that you had to track me down and tell me, instead of waiting until tomorrow?”

            She pulled out her scroll and tapped at it for a moment before passing it to him. Roman read the letter it displayed.

            “Fair enough”, he conceded. “Congratulations, kid. You earned it.”

            Neo smiled as they continued home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the last of the character intros. Next week, we begin the proper chapters with V1C1 - New Beginnings. See you then!


	5. Volume One, Chapter One: New Beginnings

            Chapter One: New Beginnings

 

            Emerald fidgeted. She frowned, staring at her feet until they stopped tapping. She relaxed and went back to staring out the airship window. Less than a minute later, she began drumming her fingers. Breathing as calmly as possible, she pulled out her scroll – ten minutes until docking – and pulled up a news article. Emerald glanced at the headline, closed the scroll again, and stood up with a huff of irritation. She made a beeline for the bathroom, weaving around groups of conversing students.

            Emerald entered the bathroom and shut the door behind her. A quick check of the room revealed she was the only occupant. Letting out a sigh, she made her way to the sink, rested her hands on the porcelain, and met her eyes in the mirror.

            “Get it together, Em. This isn’t even close to the most dangerous thing you’ve done. You can handle it. You’ll be fine.”

            It didn’t do much to calm her heartbeat. Beacon Academy, Emerald decided, was going to be difficult.

            Emerald pushed away from the sink and turned to leave. As she pushed the door open, she glanced at her scroll again, determining that she still had eight minutes to kill. Because she was distracted, she didn’t notice the figure waiting for her until he stepped into her path. Emerald managed to avoid running into him, skidding to a stop just in time. She looked up, opening her mouth to apologize, but the words died in her throat when she saw whom she was talking to.

            “Hi Emerald,” Mercury said, “fancy meeting you here.”

            Astonishingly, Emerald felt calmer with a thug in her face than she did preparing to attend Beacon. Mercury hadn’t activated his Aura yet, so she didn’t either, but she readied herself to at a moment’s notice.

            “Mercury. We both know you can’t start anything here,” Emerald whispered, watching the crowd, “so go back to your employer and tell them you failed. If they’re after revenge, I’m beyond their reach. If they’re hiring, I’m not available. Got that?”

            Not waiting for a response, she shouldered past him and away into the crowd. Mercury stared after her for a moment, but when she didn’t turn back, he hurried after her, dodging past clumps of people. He caught up to her near the front of the airship, glaring out the window. Mercury slid into the seat next to her. Emerald spun to face him, pushing herself further away. Almost as soon as she did so, she reconsidered and pulled herself closer instead, not yielding an inch of space.

            “ _What?”_ Emerald hissed.

           Mercury held up his hands in surrender. “Calm down, Emerald. You’ll burst something. I came here to tell _you_ to stop following _me_.”

            Emerald paused. She leaned closer, scrutinizing his face for deception or mockery. He stared back at her guilelessly.

            “Why would I follow you anywhere, Mercury?”

            Mercury struck what he doubtless thought was a very dashing pose. Emerald regarded him flatly. After a moment, he gave up.

            “Fine, Mrs. No-Fun. This could be your way of getting back into someone’s good graces. Returning the prodigal son to his home. Retrieving me for one last job – at least, I thought that until you started talking. Beyond their reach, huh?”

            Emerald shrugged, breaking eye contact. When she spoke she was more subdued.

            “I pissed off a few too many people. Decided that I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life like that.”

            It was Mercury’s turn to scrutinize Emerald. They sat together for a moment, neither wanting to break the silence. Eventually, Mercury spoke.

            “I can respect that.”

            Emerald nodded absently. Mercury opened his mouth to say something else, but was cut off by the blare of the airship’s speakers.

            “Attention all passengers. Please prepare for landing. Please retrieve your luggage and prepare to exit the airship…”

            “Well,” Mercury said, standing up, “Good talk. Maybe I’ll see you around. We can reminisce about the bad old days and steal Dust from Beacon’s workshop.”

            Emerald rolled her eyes, but the corner of her mouth was twitching.

            “Get out of here, troublemaker”, she said, grabbing her backpack and duffel bag.

            “Pot and kettle, Emerald,” Mercury called as he left, “Pot and kettle.”

           

            Beacon Academy, Neo decided, was going to be _fun._ She’d been off the airship for five minutes and she’d already seen so many interesting weapon ideas. Her own umbrella emphasized simplicity over firepower, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate the submachine gun-tonfas, broadsword-rifles, and harpoon-cannons (That last one was overcompensation, though) that everyone else was carrying. Torchwick’s training had been excellent, but there were so many different opponents here to duel, and regular battles with Grimm to boot. She couldn’t wait to get started.

            A tap on the shoulder and a very enthusiastic “Hi!” interrupted her ruminations. Neo started, and the speaker, too impatient to wait any longer, hurried around into Neo’s field of vision.

            She was taller than Neo (as usual) but only by a few inches, with bright orange hair, green-blue eyes, and a grenade launcher strapped to her back. As Neo took this in, she started talking:

            “Hi! I’m Nora, another new student! I’m really glad to meet you! How’d you make your weapon? It looks fancy!”

            Neo blinked. Nora took this as an invitation to continue.

            “I mean, I can guess how you made it, but how’d you design it? Is there a gun in the shaft? I can’t see a trigger! Oh, oh, I know! Does it use Dust?”

            Nora paused to draw breath. She made it halfway through her inhale before gasping like she’d swallowed a fly.

            “I almost forgot why I came to talk to you! I mean, I like meeting new people, but I wanted to meet you to get your opinion! Do you think you could settle a bet?”

            A dozen possible responses flashed through Neo’s mind, ranging from a shake of the head (she might leave) to an unnecessarily elaborate sign language reply (she would probably give a flustered apology, and almost definitely leave), but she decided against it. She did have a very interesting grenade launcher, after all. Neo nodded and Nora drew in another breath for her next verbal barrage.

            Before she could begin, however, another student caught up to them, gasping and panting for breath. He was dressed in a long-sleeved green jacket with gold and black trim and a streak of pink in his hair. Nora turned to him with delight (did she just _bounce_?)

            “Ren! It’s about time you got here, slowpoke! I was just about to win our bet! What took you so long? Never mind, just listen!”

            With that, she turned back to Neo and unholstered her grenade launcher, popping it open and removing one of the grenades.

            “This is Magnhild, my grenade launcher! I’ve been making improvements and upgrades for years now! Anyway, I use grenades with a mix of high-explosive Dust and a more conventional explosive! The regular stuff just doesn’t have the same kick, but Dust’s super expensive, you know! So, Ren here – this is Ren, say hi, Ren! – was telling me that one – third Dust and two-thirds conventional was fine, because when am I going to need more explosives than that, right?”

            The one-third high-explosive Dust grenade in question was at that moment being idly tossed and caught by Nora. Ren winced every time she threw it.

            Ren had caught his breath by this point, and interjected a quiet “Hello” and apologetic look into the conversation. Neo was barely paying him any attention by this point, though.

            “So, I told him that I always need more explosives, because you never know when you need to set off every seismograph in a five-kilometer radius, you know? So, we made a bet, and now you need to settle it! Don’t you think that one-third Dust just isn’t enough for a grenade launcher?”

            A grin had been fighting to emerge since Nora introduced Magnhild, and now Neo surrendered to it. It was evident Nora had an appreciation for the finer things in life (Neo appreciated carnage as much as the next girl, even if her own weapon tended towards precision maiming.) Neo thought for a moment, then inspiration struck. She shook her head, then held up one finger, then five. She paused to think for a second, then held up one again, then ten.

            Nora was gaping in shock by the headshake. She stared, frozen, as Neo held up her fingers (Ren made an excellent diving save, catching the grenade), but couldn’t restrain herself when Neo held up ten.

            “One fifth to one tenth Dust? Are you crazy?!”

            Nora was one of the gifted few that could insert multiple punctuation marks into a single sentence.

            Ren got up and dusted himself off, sparing a second to shoot Neo a look of gratitude.

            Neo held up a hand, forestalling Nora’s monologue on the virtues of high explosives. She drew her sword cane from her umbrella, ignoring Nora’s gasp, and tapped the tip meaningfully. Nora frowned and folded her arms.

            “Don’t try to tempt me with cool concealed weapons, missy! You have no appreciation for high explosives, and I care not what sharp things you have-“

            Neo would not have been surprised to see a lightbulb flick into existence over Nora’s head. As it was, she sucked in a tremendous gasp of air.

            “Shrapnel! I never thought of that!”

            Ren’s gratitude disappeared like a fox down a hole.

            “Of course! Fragmentation grenades! If I lower the power of the explosive, I can get deadly shrapnel that a more powerful blast would destroy! They’d rip my enemies to tiny bits! Grimm don’t have an Aura, so, as long as I use an appropriately sturdy material, they’d do plenty of damage! It’s brilliant!!”

            Nora was definitely bouncing, now.

            “Oh! Oh! And that can be used in conjunction with trick grenades! Elemental Dust doesn’t have the same kick as blasting Dust, but if I don’t need super powerful explosives, I can use elemental Dust! I’ll have fiery, icey, and windy shrapnel grenades!”

            Nora grabbed Neo in a rib-crushing bear hug.

            “You’re the best weapons consultant ever! This is going to make Magnhild so much better! I can’t wait to get started!”

            Nora let Neo go. She stumbled a bit but did an admirable job of remaining standing.

            “You’ve got to tell me all about your weapon too! I bet we can find lots of ways to improve it! You should ask Ren, he’s got loads of good ideas, even if some of them are kind of boring!”

            Ren said, with remarkable calm, “I think that we should go to the headmaster’s speech now, Nora.”

            “Of course! How could I forget? We really should! Come with us, it’ll be fun-Wait! You never told me your name!”

            Well, nothing for it, Neo thought. She decided to try her luck and signed out _Neo_. Without missing a beat, Ren nudged Nora and translated.

            “Great! Come on, we don’t want to be late! Oh, I’ve thought of improvements for your umbrella already! How do you feel about missiles?”

            As she followed the other two to the assembly, Neo found herself smiling. There was no doubt Beacon Academy was going to be fun.

           

            Cinder hung back at the edge of the crowd, more focused on her fellow students than on the stage. She wasn’t sure how teams would be assigned, but it never hurt to find potential teammates. She’d spotted Pyrrha Nikos, of course, but everyone’d be after Pyrrha Nikos. Cinder scanned the crowd for people who stood out: those wearing clothes years out of date, designed for an entirely foreign fashion, avoiding the crowds, or carrying weapons that looked more cobbled-together than forged.

            Beacon accepted anyone who could pass a set of academic and combat tests, so a small portion of the prospective students came from small villages outside Vale’s walls. They’d be guaranteed to have actual combat experience, something no amount of training could match. She’d spotted a few possible candidates, but three of them were happily chatting together. Insinuating herself among them would be too difficult, so she turned to the other two.

            One of them, with green hair and what looked like modified revolvers, had potential, but the one in grey carried himself with more experience and confidence. She’d start with him. Just then, Ozpin and Glynda entered the room. Cinder recognized them from the research she’d done, but this was the first time she’d seen them in the flesh. Glynda moved with confidence, walking with speed and self-assurance. She projected the image of a skilled huntress, one who did not have time for delays or incompetence. She scanned the crowd, eyes flicking from one student to the next, no doubt assessing them for combat prowess and discipline. Cinder would never admit it, but she was mentally taking notes.

            Ozpin, on the other hand, was disappointing. She was expecting someone with a commanding presence, someone able to quiet a room by entering it, not this. His clothes, while expensive, were in subdued, muted colors. His hair was mussed and untidy and his cane only made him seem weaker. It was absurd, but Cinder almost felt cheated. This was Beacon’s headmaster? Even if he was more charismatic than he looked, it was still a disappointment.

            As he stepped up to the microphone, Cinder realized that within seconds of him entering the room, she had instinctually downgraded him from “Masterful charismatic strategist able to effectively run Beacon Academy, churning out deadly Hunters and Huntresses” to “Overhyped headmaster, unimpressive, of no serious consequence.” That was _impressive_.

            His speech was brief, almost curt, but she recognized its value. Being a Hunter wasn’t something you could do halfway. You live it or you don’t. Cinder left the auditorium feeling contemplative. Ozpin had surpassed her expectations. She had made the right choice, coming to Beacon.

 

            After the speech, as her classmates were settling down for the night, Cinder sought out the grey-haired student she’d spotted earlier. It wasn’t easy, picking her way through the crowds of students. After a minute, she spotted him sitting against the wall, fiddling with a set of tools. She made her way over to him, threading her way past students chatting, sleeping, or cleaning their weapons. When she got closer, she could tell he was cleaning a set of small tools: screwdrivers, wrenches, and pliers of various sizes. The cleaning fluid he was using was sufficiently odorous to send anyone near him looking for another spot.

            Cinder sat down next to him, ignoring the acrid fumes. He finished cleaning off a screwdriver with a small cloth, then turned to face her, leaving the cleaning fluid uncapped.

            “Looks like you really want to sit next to me, huh?” he smirked. “Well, I was hoping to get some more work done before ‘Initiation’ tomorrow, but if you’d like to reschedule…”

            Cinder cut him off. “If I wanted to flirt with someone, I’d have found somewhere with better atmosphere.”

            He barked a laugh at that. “Hey, I happen to like it,” he added, recapping the bottle of cleaner and improving the air immensely.

            “I’m Mercury. What do you want from me, if not my winning personality?”

            Cinder leaned forward, adding to the impression that she was sharing something in confidence with him. No point in beating around the bush.

            “I’m Cinder, and I’m going to outshine the competition at initiation. I can tell you’re not from Signal, and probably not from Vale, so you’ve got more experience than almost anyone else here. We’d do better watching each other’s backs. Interested?”

            Mercury listened calmly, but Cinder could tell that she’d made a mistake. His entire demeanor had changed, going from interested to closed-off. She reexamined her offer, trying to determine what she’d said to dissuade him.

            Mercury shook his head. “Sorry, but I don’t think it’d work out. I appreciate the offer, but I’m more of a do-it-myself kinda guy.”

            The rejection was annoying, but Cinder didn’t let it get to her. There was no point in trying to force things – he’d decided he wasn’t interested in working together, for whatever reason. She stood, picking up her bedroll.

            “All right then. Good luck going it alone.” _I’ll make sure to outdo you in particular_ , she mentally added.

            “Bye,” Mercury said, adding a limp wave before turning back to his tools.

 

            Cinder found a isolated corner of the room and settled into her bedroll. It had been a good idea, getting someone skilled on her side, even if it hadn’t worked out. She was half-tempted to try to track down someone else, but at this hour her intrusion would be unwelcome. She settled back into her pillow instead, allowing herself to relax. An ally would have been welcome, but she didn’t need one to handle initiation. She’d be fine.

 

            Mercury finished cleaning his tools – this was their third cleaning this week, he wasn’t accomplishing anything– and began putting them away again, sliding each one into its housing in his case. His feet ached. It wasn’t hard to figure out why.

            _“I can tell you’re not from Signal, and probably not from Vale.”_

            He supposed his clothes weren’t common. The armor certainly wasn’t, but he hadn’t expected it to be that obvious. It didn’t matter that he didn’t look like a native, but he couldn’t stop himself from worrying. He couldn’t wait for initiation, whatever it was, to get started. He needed to take his mind off things.

 

            Emerald lay awake, staring at the ceiling. It was starting to sink in, now, that she was attending Beacon. It was, to be honest, more than a little terrifying. She had training. She had Aura. She had weapons. She hadn’t been trained for this, but there was no going back. She’d see this through.

 

            “But that’s the best part! What’s the point in fighting Grimm if they don’t get the chance to fight back?”

            “She says that it’s very satisfying to wipe out a pack of Beowolves without ever being spotted.”

            “A whole pack? You must’ve had a great teacher! We did, but eventually we needed to come here to keep getting better, you know?”

            “Her uncle taught her. He’d take her with him after Grimm packs, once she got old enough.”

            “That sounds like so much fun! We were never allowed to go looking for trouble! Well, we did it anyway, but rarely! So, where’d you grow up? We were north of Vale, but we moved around a lot!”

            “She grew up in Vale, actually. She went on hunting trips outside the city. We should get some sleep, you know.”

            “Come ooooon! I’m good for at least another half hour!”

            “Fine. Another half hour, but no more.”

            “Great! So, how much sign language can you teach me in half an hour?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nora wasn't supposed to steal the show, I just dropped her in for a cameo and it sort of... happened. Neo and Nora would absolutely be best friends if they didn't need to try to kill each other. Anyway, the plot is finally getting started! Next week, initiation begins with Chapter Two: Alliances. See you there.


	6. Volume One, Chapter Two: Alliances

Volume One, Chapter Two: Alliances

 

            Beacon was filled with nervous energy. Students tapped their feet, checked their weapons, and did everything else they could to calm down. Neo checked her umbrella for damage twice before forcing herself to move on. Nora had woken up disgustingly early and proceeded to awaken everyone around her, chattering on with an enthusiasm that was much less welcome this early in the morning. Neo almost felt bad about slipping away and leaving Ren with her. Almost. Neo found her locker without trouble and retrieved her umbrella, which she had stowed there last night. Giving it an experimental twirl and unfurl, she made her way to Beacon Cliff, where the students would gather for initiation.

            Cinder retrieved her bow and quiver, strapping them to her dress. She unlocked the small box she also kept in her locker, retrieving a trio of Dust vials. She didn’t expect she’d need them, or the pair of Dust-tipped arrows in her quiver, but there was no point in being unprepared. As she turned to leave, she recognized Pyrrha Nikos entering the room. With a mental shrug, Cinder took the opportunity, changing course to meet her. Sidestepping a blonde student fumbling with a piece of paper, she strolled up to Pyrrha.

            _Remember, subtlety. She’s had a dozen requests for teammates already, I’m sure._

            “Pyrrha Nikos?”

            The warrior turned, expression one of polite interest.

            “Yes?”

            “I’m Cinder Fall. I couldn’t help but notice you were one of the other students, and was wondering…”

            Pyrrha’s face hadn’t fallen so much as slightly slumped, but it was clear she was disappointed in where the conversation was heading.

            “…if you’d be willing to spar sometime.”

            Pyrrha half-opened her mouth, closed it, reran Cinder’s sentence through her head, and opened it again.

            “Ah-sorry, what?”

            “Well, I’m always looking for someone skilled to spar with, and I hear you’re pretty good. I stayed away from the tournament scene, but I think I can still surprise you.”

            Pyrrha smiled. “That sounds like fun, actually. We can set something up after initiation, maybe?”

            Cinder hadn’t missed the way she dropped initiation into the conversation. She carefully ignored it. “I’ll do that. Good luck today.”

            “You too.”

            Turning, Cinder made her way towards the exit again. She couldn’t have asked for that to go any better, really- she’d made a favorable impression with Pyrrha, and would get plenty of opportunities to learn from her over the year. As she approached the door, the blonde student from earlier stepped into her path, leaning against one of the lockers.

            “So, I hear you’re looking for sparring buddies…” he began.

            Cinder sighed and stepped back. As he stepped forward to maintain distance, she caught hold of his sleeve and tugged, sending him stumbling towards her. She stepped out of his way and slapped him on the back, sending him reeling forwards. He probably would’ve regained his balance if not for the ankle-level bench he tripped into, tumbling over it and sprawling against the lockers.

            “I’ll pass, thanks.” Cinder said as she exited the room.

 

            “Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die,” Ozpin said to the gathered students.

            Mercury grinned. If this was how Beacon handled initiation, he’d have no problem suffering through the schoolwork. He cracked his neck, flexed his shoulders, and readied himself for the launch. The panel three to his left fired. Then the one next to that. He turned to his right to study Emerald, who’d ended up on a panel two to his right. She gave him a nod of acknowledgement, then drew her revolvers. The student next to him was launched. He crouched, and then his panel blasted him into the air.

            At this speed, the wind was a physical force, pressing his hands to his sides and forcing his eyes shut. Mercury kept calm and waited to reach the apex of his launch. As gravity reasserted itself, he flipped over in the air, falling feetfirst. He could see the forest laid out below him, rushing by too fast to catch details. The location Ozpin had indicated was barely visible on the horizon, but he was losing altitude too fast to focus on it for long.

            As he neared the treeline, Mercury fired his greaves again and again, trying to kill as much momentum as possible. Branches snapped and trees shuddered as his shots connected with the forest below. He heard outraged roars as his shots struck Grimm lurking among the trees. The forest rushed up to meet him and Mercury crouched in midair, channeling as much Aura as he could into his legs. Branches lashed at his prosthetics ineffectually as he continued to fall.

            Suddenly, Mercury was below the treetops, hurtling past leafless branches and massive treetrunks. He fired one last blast from his greaves, altering his trajectory towards a sturdy oak. He smashed through the trunk, hit the tree beyond it hard enough to leave indents in the wood, and backflipped to the ground. The severed upper half of the tree he’d used to brake crashed to the ground behind him. Mercury took a few steps forward, dusting his palms off and wishing someone had been watching.

            A snarl interrupted his self-congratulation, and he spun to see a dozen Beowolves charging forward in a rough arrow formation. One or two of them bore gunshot wounds, and he realized he’d attracted their attention while firing indiscriminately into the forest. They’d revealed themselves too early, though – they were charging, but the forest was thick, keeping them from closing the distance too soon. Hopping from foot to foot, Mercury fired blast after blast at the Beowolves, dispatching them with precise shots. Four survived his barrage, coming too close to risk further ranged fire.

            Mercury fell backward, letting the first swipes pass over his head as he fired a blast from both greaves, hitting two of his attackers in the chest. The recoil pushed him back, and he jumped to his feet as the last two Beowolves closed in, flanking him. They attacked, and he leapt into a perfect split, pointing one foot at each of their heads and firing again. This time, all that emerged from his greaves was a quiet click as his greaves ran empty.

            He didn’t have time to panic before one Beowolf caught his leg in its mouth and worried it, tugging it back and forth in an attempt to pull it off completely. The other raked its claws across his chest, slamming him into the ground and further taxing his Aura. Mercury yelled incoherently, kicking at his captor with his free leg, but it was clawing at him, deflecting his kicks. Summoning up his strength, he shoved his caught leg forward, then pulled it back, yanking it out of the Beowolf’s mouth. The Beowolf retreated, but the other was on him again, and he rolled away from its attack, dodging its strike by inches.

            Mercury pushed himself back to his feet, but the Beowolves were circling around him, not giving him a second to recover. His Aura’d taken a beating during his landing, and he hadn’t had a second to recover his reserves. A cold anger welled up in the pit of his stomach as he blocked another attack with his boot, leaving himself open for a strike from the second Beowolf. He let the attack knock him off his feet, adding more momentum to the strike to spin him around, foot snapping out in a kick to shatter the Grimm’s jaw. The first Beowolf grabbed him in midair and threw him into a tree. Getting up was a little harder each time, but Mercury forced himself to his feet, readying himself for their next attack. He could keep taking hits. They couldn’t. Before they could charge again, though, something hurtled out of the forest and crashed into him, snatching him up and carrying him deeper into the woods.

 

            Emerald flicked her scythes open as she flew through the air. She’d done this once before, on a bet, and even if it had ended with her crashing into the side of a building, she was pretty sure she knew what she did wrong. When her momentum began to die and she dropped towards the treetops, she angled herself into a dive, trying to pass through the canopy as fast as possible. She smashed through a dozen branches, but then she was through, shedding leaves as she went. Emerald threw her sickle forward as hard as she could, embedding it in a tree ahead of her. She kept a tight grip on the chain as she fell, pulling it taut. The sickle held, swinging Emerald below it like a pendulum. For a heart-stopping moment, her feet trailed in the grass, and then she was lifting away from the ground.

            As she ascended again, Emerald flicked her wrist, pulling the sickle out of the tree, then threw the second one. She tugged on the chain of the first sickle, pulling it to her, and caught the revolver grip as she finished her second arc. After that, it got easier, and she’d almost settled into the rhythm of throwing and recalling her sickles when she glimpsed Mercury up ahead. He was facing two Beowolves, but the Beowolf corpses strewn through the forest made it clear he’d begun the fight facing worse odds. As she swung forward, one of them slammed into him, knocking him off the ground completely. He twisted in midair, trying to strike it, but the other grabbed and threw him, slamming him into a tree.

            Emerald made a decision, changing course. As Mercury recovered and the Beowolves pressed their attack, she swung into the fight. At the low point of her flight, she grabbed him around his middle, hoisting the two of them back into the air.

            “Hold on,” she yelled, trying to adjust for their increased weight. Her scythe popped out of the tree she’d lodged it in as they ascended, and she immediately threw it again. Without the time to recall it, she cracked its chain like a whip, sending it rippling outward. It flew, but not well, lodging in a tree too close to get them much momentum. They were falling more than flying, now, rapidly losing momentum. Catching on, Mercury got a better grip on her waist, freeing Emerald to throw her second sickle again. She launched it, lodging it high in a tree, then pulled the two of them towards it, restoring momentum and height. They skidded dangerously close to the ground again, Grimm nipping at their heels for a brief moment before they ascended again. As they reached their apex, Emerald readied another sickle, but she was out of trees. She’d swung them out of the thick forest and over a ravine. Making one last attempt, she hurled her sickle at the far side, but it came up short, carving a furrow into the dirt.

            As they plummeted, Mercury marshaled what remained of his Aura, hoping to cushion his fall. His preparations were interrupted when Emerald let go of him, spinning in midair. Before he could process what she was doing, she’d kicked off from his falling form, gaining enough momentum to clear the edge of the ravine. He had time for a moment of stunned betrayal and outrage – _stupid, why did you trust her to begin with?_ – then Emerald threw her sickle back down to him. Mercury caught it, flexing his legs as he smacked into the side of the ravine. He scrambled up the chain, pulling himself to solid ground the top as the Beowolves burst out of the forest on the other side of the chasm.

            One was daring or foolhardy enough to try to leap across, aiming for Mercury. It crashed into the side of the ravine below him, scrabbled for purchase for a moment, then fell, bouncing off the walls as it dropped out of sight. Its companion howled in anger, pacing back and forth on its side of the chasm, but it retreated back into the woods after Emerald fired a few bullets at it.

            Once it was gone, Mercury slumped over, resting his hands on his knees and gasping for breath. Emerald dropped to the ground and massaged her aching shoulders. She kept her back to the ravine, but her focus was on her aching arms, not the forest ahead. After catching his breath, Mercury knelt down, pulling the legs of his pants up to reveal his prosthetics. Working with haste, he replaced the spent shells with fresh ones. Emerald finished shaking feeling into her arms and climbed to her feet, turning to Mercury. Aware of her gaze, he finished loading shells into his legs and stood, letting his pants fall back over his shins.

            “Thanks for the save,” he said, trying to break the tension. “That was very dashing, up until you dropped me down a pit.”

            “It worked, didn’t it? If you had been lighter, I wouldn’t have needed to drop you at all.”

            “C’mon, weight jokes? I’m hurt, Em. I think I merit a crack about you dumping me at the very least. Maybe something about me dragging you down, y’know? You’re not even trying.”

            Emerald rolled her eyes, loading fresh bullets into her revolvers and very carefully not smiling.

            Shrugging, Mercury continued. “Anyway, I didn’t expect to get you as a partner.”

            “Me neither,” Emerald replied, glad for the prompt. “We should get a move on. We’ve covered plenty of distance, but we’ve still got a ways to go. The Grimm are only going to get more stirred up.”

            “Sure you don’t want to take a longer break? I’m feeling pretty tired after that stunt you pulled.”

            “C’mon, Merc, you can rest when we’ve got the relic.”

            Emerald walked into the forest. Mercury started after her, but paused.

_“…Merc?”_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Evening, folks! Have some Emerald and Mercury. Chapter three, Embers, will be posted next weekend, and focus on the other two members of CMSN. See you there.


	7. Volume One, Chapter Three: Embers

Volume One, Chapter Three: Embers

 

            This wasn’t part of the plan. She’d been prepared for a battle with Grimm. She’d been prepared for a battle with the other students. She’d even worked out a plan for facing a teacher. Getting launched off a cliff into the Emerald Forest had appeared _nowhere_ in all her planning for initiation to Beacon Academy. It was fortunate, then, that she was good at improvisation.

            Cinder let herself fall towards the treetops without attempting to change her trajectory or momentum – with her gear and Semblance what they were, there wasn’t any point. As she arced towards the treetops, she drew her blades and held them in a ready stance, or her best midair approximation. All too suddenly, she was amongst the trees, madly slashing at the branches whipping towards her. Branch after branch splintered and tumbled out of her path, but she couldn’t stop them all. For every one she cut away, another made it past her guard to strike at her. The impacts, individually, meant very little, but together they made a noticeable drain on her Aura.

            A massive tree approached, and she took advantage of the opportunity, twisting around in midair to sink her blades into it while missing it herself. Instead of slowing her down, her swords cut cleanly through the trunk and out the other side. With no time left to land elegantly, Cinder managed to sheath her swords, hitting the ground in a roll. Head spinning and Aura lower than she’d like, Cinder shakily got to her feet, checked her weapons were still attached to her dress, and reoriented herself. After a moment to shake off the worst of her disorientation, she strode into the forest, in the approximate direction of her objective.

           

            Neo flared her Aura, then opened her umbrella, the shock of deceleration nearly ripping it out of her hands anyway. The momentum from her launch exhausted, she drifted downward, landing on a thick branch halfway up a tree. She furled her umbrella and darted along the branch, leaping to another when hers began to bend under her weight. As she landed, the limb creaked and dipped alarmingly, and Neo _shifted_ , her Semblance transporting her to a nearby tree. She continued moving through the trees, using her Semblance to cross gaps she couldn’t manage otherwise, ears and eyes alert for any sign of company, human or Grimm.

            As she continued onward, she passed over Beowolf packs, Creep mobs, and other groups of Grimm. Most of them never noticed her, and the few that did couldn’t get near her. Neo continued to check for trouble whenever a Grimm roared a challenge, but she was quickly coming to regard it as a waste of time. She was making her way along a long, narrow branch with her arms outstretched for balance when she heard the shriek, and she was nearly too slow in turning to face it. She did turn, though, which is why the Griffon tore her off the branch instead of tearing her torso off her legs.

            As it dove towards her, she managed to interpose her umbrella between her face and its beak. The Grimm slammed into her, knocking her off the branch and jamming her umbrella in its mouth as it tried to snap at her. Neo clung to its neck, trying to keep her legs away from its grasping claws. The Griffon extended its wings, gliding towards the ground. Neo chanced a glance down – they were still many meters up, and a pack of Beowolves was trying to keep pace with them. Her attention was wrenched back to the Griffon as it violently shook its head, nearly dislodging her umbrella.

            Neo let go of the Griffon’s neck with her other hand, gripping her umbrella with both hands and supporting herself with just her legs. As the Griffon thrashed its head, she forced the umbrella back, pushing at the tip and pulling at the handle until the hook fetched up against the edge of its beak. It made another attempt to dislodge the blockage, but Neo held it steady, glanced down again, then extended her blade. The thin length of metal slid through the roof of the Griffon’s mouth, into its brain, and out the top of its head.

            Immediately, the Griffon’s controlled descent became an uncontrolled plummet. Neo wrenched her umbrella free of its jaws, then kicked off from its tumbling corpse, hoping she was falling towards a tree. She crashed into the ground, throwing herself into a roll as she hit and bouncing back to her feet. She could hear the Beowolf pack she’d outdistanced moments before crashing through the foliage. They’d be on her any second.

            Neo stepped back, off the trail, and activated her Semblance again, this time calling up an image of empty forest and wrapping it around her. It wouldn’t pass close inspection-two dimensional images only appear three dimensional from a certain angle - but the Grimm likely wouldn’t notice. She unsheathed her blade, preparing for a fight, just in case.

            The Beowolves tore through without slowing down, continuing deeper into the forest. Cautiously, Neo let her illusion drop. She hadn’t expected it to work _that_ well. As the noise of their passage faded, she realized she could hear pained roars and crackling fire in the direction they had charged in. That explained things.

 

            Cinder buried her swords to the hilt in a pair of Beowolves, sucked in a breath, and spat a cone of fire at the Creep her flank her. It recoiled, burning, and she spun, barely exerting any effort to pull her weapons from the evaporating remains of the Beowolves. She dove to the side, avoiding an Ursa’s swipe, and scored a deep strike along its flank. As it bellowed, Cinder dashed up its back, feet finding footholds on bone spurs. She leapt as she reached its head, turning in midair and plunging both swords into the back of its neck, where there was no mask to protect it.

            A dozen juvenile Nevermore swarmed her, beaks and claws glinting. She ignited the area around her with a burst of flame, sending burning bodies tumbling away from her in every direction. She’d won a little breathing room, and combined her blades into a bow, drawing and nocking an arrow in one fluid motion.

            A pack of Beowolves charged her, and Cinder let her arrow fly. It parted the air above their leader’s head and lodged itself in a tree. Her second shot struck one in its leg, and before she could fire a third they were on her. Between the constant exertion of combat and the cloying fumes of dead Grimm, her performance was suffering. The dead Ursa she was still standing on began to evaporate as she retreated, and she stumbled, nearly failing to dodge the swipe of the Alpha leading the charge.

            The Ursa began to disintegrate in earnest, and her footing betrayed her. She fell backwards off the Ursa, landing on her back. Instead of returning her bow to a pair of blades, she grasped one specific arrow from her quiver. Wincing, she twisted, taking aim at the Alpha leaping through the miasma of the Ursa towards her. The arrow struck it right between the eyes, lodging in the thick bone plate. It landed straddling her, reached down and opened its jaws.

            The Dust charge on the arrow blew its head off. Thankfully, its head had been between Cinder and the blast, but the explosion was still painfully loud. Her Aura had done very little to protect her ears, and her head was filled with a high-pitched whine as she pushed herself to her feet.

             The Beowolves wavered, glancing between their reduced numbers and the Huntress-in-training. None of them wanted to be the first to face her. Finding her footing, Cinder fitted another arrow to her bowstring, reading herself to face another charge. Instead, at some signal, they turned and ran in unison, disappearing back amongst the trees. Unwilling to relax, Cinder watched the trees for the slightest hint of movement for any sign they were doubling back. When none came, she turned to scan the rest of the area.

            Immediately, she realized what had compelled the Beowolves to flee. Behind her stood a half-dozen other Hunters and Huntresses, weapons at the ready. Cinder recognized most of them from initiation – Pyrrha knelt, rifle at the ready, next to Ozpin and Glynda, standing confidently together. To Glynda’s other side, a boy in green with a streak of pink in his hair aimed twin SMGs forward. The last members of the group were a girl in pink and white with a massive hammer, a man in a white coat with a bowler hat and cane, and an indistinct, shadowy figure on the edge of the group, carrying a massive blade.

            Instinctively, she recoiled, bringing her bow nearly to full draw before calming and lowering her weapon. Something still struck her as profoundly wrong about the scene, though, and it wasn’t until she retreated another step that she realized that the perspective wasn’t right. She was staring at a picture – a Semblance.

            As she realized it was an illusion, the picture shattered soundlessly, spraying colored fragments across the ground, where they faded to nothing. Behind the illusion was a short figure in white, pink, and brown, with hair and eyes to match. Cinder recognized her as another of the students she’d pegged as being from outside Vale, one she hadn’t gotten the chance to talk to.

            “Thank you,” Cinder said, sincerely grateful. “I was getting a little short on Aura there.”

            Neo shrugged. It was sort of her fault the Beowolf pack was in the area, after all. She examined her new partner. She’d done pretty well for herself in that fight – Neo could see the remains of several more Grimm than she’d seen killed – but there was no point in a skilled teammate if they couldn’t communicate. She might as well clarify things on her terms, then.

            Neo signed out _Don’t mention it-it was fun. Pleased to meet you, by the way. My name’s Neopolitan._ Typically, she would have settled for _Hi, I’m Neo_ , but you only get one chance to embarrass your partner for not knowing sign language. She decided to milk it a bit.

            Cinder’s new partner made a series of quick, complicated gestures, ending with a string of smaller, simpler ones. Cinder had no idea what most of them went, but she’d memorized military hand signals a few years ago, and the individual letters appeared to be shared with sign language. She had to think very quickly indeed to keep up with her partner’s gestures, but she managed to decipher the name she spelled out.

            Taking a moment to refresh her memory and make sure she wasn’t about to make a mistake (And ignoring Neo’ slowly rising eyebrow) Cinder spelled out _Hello Neopolitan I’m Cinder._ Seeing her second eyebrow join its twin in Neo’s hairline was extremely gratifying. After a moment, Neo gave an impressed nod, and gestured to the forest ahead. Cinder strode forward, and Neo fell into step beside her.

 

            Emerald flicked her sickles across the Beowolf’s back, tearing deep into its flesh. It collapsed, yelping, and she fired a round from her revolver through its head. Glancing over at Mercury, she saw him dispatch the last of his opponents with a powerful kick. He didn’t fire his greaves, counting on his strength to finish the job. Ever since they’d met up, Mercury had been cautious about ammunition, carefully rationing his supply.

            “I think that’s all of them,” Emerald called.

            Mercury glanced up from the corpse of his opponent and whistled.

            “Where’d you learn to fight like that?”

            “I picked up a few tricks from a bunch of places,” Emerald deflected, “Did you think I didn’t take the entrance test?”

            “I just thought there wouldn’t be much need for those kinds of skills in your… previous occupation.”

            Emerald shot him a glare, which he cheerfully ignored. She contemplated ignoring him, but she’d learned he’d just keep needling her.

            “I dabbled in plenty of jobs. There’s always someone willing to pay for an extra pair of hands to clear out some Grimm, and I charged less than a Huntress.”

            He nodded, satisfied. For a few, blissful moments, they proceeded through the forest in silence.

            “So, how’d you get your weapon?”

            “I swear, it’s like babysitting a five-year-old,” Emerald muttered, intentionally loud enough to be heard.

            That earned her an amused snort. Emerald pushed her way through a thin gap between trees, then began wading through thick ferns. She intentionally steered towards paths too narrow to be walked side-by-side, or obstacles requiring too much concentration for conversation. Eventually, though, the path flattened, and they were walking side by side again.

            “Seriously, though, did you look at a revolver and say ‘Needs more chains and blades,’ or did you start with the chain and then decide you also wanted to shoot people, or what?”

            Emerald kept walking, idly scanning the horizon for any sign of their goal.

            “Come on, this is boring. Nothing’s tried to kill us for at least ten minutes!”

            With a sigh, Emerald turned back to Mercury.

            “Fine. I wanted a grappling hook that doubled as a long-range weapon. I was sorting through some blueprints and found a revolver with an attached bayonet. Everything came together from there.”

            “There we go!” Mercury exclaimed, “Was that so bad?”

            “No, I guess it wasn’t. How’d you get your weapons?”

            This time Mercury was the one to fell silent. The pause dragged out past “witty retort” and into “awkward silence” as the pair continued along the path.

            “If you don’t want to talk about it-“

            “No, you got me. Well played, by the way.”

            Hills rose up on either side of them as they descended into a valley. Mercury stared at the ground, searching for a way to start. After a moment, he kicked a stone into the mouth of a cave they were passing.

            “Okay. I was almost sixteen-“

            A Griffon shrieked a challenge as it emerged from the cave Mercury launched a stone into. Dozens deeper inside the cave echoed its cry.

            “Oh, thank goodness,” Mercury muttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Evening, folks! Welcome back to your weekly supply of CMSN. Next chapter will conclude the Emerald Forest story arc, so look forward to that next Saturday. See you then!


	8. Volume One, Chapter Four: Unity

Volume One, Chapter Four: Unity

 

            Glynda pulled up another feed on her scroll. On it, Mercury and Emerald fled through the forest, pursued by Grimm. Next to her, Ozpin took another sip of his coffee. He gazed into the forest, glimpsing gunfire and Grimm.

            “What are your thoughts on this year’s students, Glynda?”

            “Well, sir,” she began, “Many of them lack ranged weaponry. Arc, Lark, Thrush, Torchwick, and Winchester have no firearms at all. Furthermore, Black, Bronzewing, Lie, and Sustrai’s weapons lack range or power. Fall, Nikos, and Valkyrie are the only ones with serious ranged options.”

            “I’m sure they will find a way to manage. I’m more interested in your assessment of the students, not their weaponry.”

            “You know what I think of Jaune, professor. We were quite fortunate to receive Miss Nikos as a student. I have my doubts about the Torchwick girl, though.”

            “And why is that, Glynda?”

            “I’m not questioning her combat ability, sir. Neopolitan passed the combat tests with flying colors. What concerns me is her family history. After her uncle-“        

            “Ordinary people do not become Huntresses, Glynda. I am confident that any…rough edges can be harnessed to a more productive cause.”

            “Of course, sir. Would it interest you to know which of our students bear a striking resemblance to people wanted for criminal activity in other cities?”

            “Wanted for what?”

            “Burglary, theft, and robbery for one student. Robbery, extortion, assault and battery, destruction of property, et cetera, et cetera for the other. There’s suspicion of association with organized crime, but I doubt it will stick. Their weapons and appearances match the reports quite well.”

            “Leave them be. We are offering a second chance, Glynda. A clean slate in exchange for their allegiance, defending humanity. They will not squander their new lives.”

            “…I suppose so, sir. I’ll trust your judgment.”

            “Thank you, Glynda. I assure you, if it becomes necessary, I will deal with the situation. For now, keep an eye on them.”

            Glynda turned her attention back to her scroll, paging to another pair of students. On her screen, Neo and Cinder entered the temple.

 

            “I think we’ll take the queen.”

            Neo shrugged and nodded.

            Cinder picked up the black queen, studied it for a moment, then slipped it into a pouch at her waist, by her weapons.

            “Come on,” she called, “We’ve still got to make the trek back.”

            As they stepped out of the temple, Cinder and Neo heard the distinctive sounds of gunfire and Grimm howls. Cinder drew her bow, nocking an arrow as she tried to pinpoint the source. Neo tapped her on the shoulder, pointing with her umbrella to three distinct points in the forest.

            “You’re sure?”

            Neo raised an eyebrow at her partner.

            Cinder nodded. “We’ll hold our ground at the temple. There’s plenty of open space between us and the Grimm-we can pick them off as they come.”

            Neo cocked her head to one side, staring at Cinder. She held up her umbrella and waved the blade back and forth between them.

            “Then confuse them and slow them down with your illusions. I’d rather not have to deal with aerial Grimm in an open field.”

            As if summoned, Mercury and Emerald burst out of the forest at the far end of the long, empty clearing leading to the temple. Emerald fired a salvo blind over her shoulder, then broke into a run towards the temple. Mercury didn’t bother with parting shots, sprinting forward.

            As they fled, Griffons emerged from the forest behind them. In the clearing, with no trees to weave around, they put on a burst of speed, closing the distance with the fleeing Hunters.

            Cinder’s arrow struck the leader in its wing, sending it spiraling off course and crashing into the ground. Neo threw an illusion in front of two more, but at that distance it flickered and wavered, and the Grimm plunged through it, converging on their prey.

            Mercury heard the Griffon’s screams as they dove towards him and Emerald. Flaring his Aura even higher, he launched himself into a backflip, bringing his greaves down on the first Griffon’s head. Beneath black feathers, bones broke and crunched as his boots axed down. Firing his greaves, he launched himself away from its corpse, landing in a crouch and continuing to run.

            Emerald planted her feet in the dirt as the Griffon dove for her, skidding to a stop that threw up a massive cloud of dust. The Griffon tried to steepen its dive, but it was too late: it overshot, its talons passing over her head with inches to spare. As it flapped to regain altitude, Emerald threw her sickles, lodging them in its back. She was light, and her sickles missed its vital organs and muscle groups. As it continued to climb, it pulled her with it.

            Cinder picked off another Griffon, then another. The day’s exertions had taken their toll, but Griffons were easy targets: All she had to do was knock them out of the air, and gravity would take care of the rest. It was a refreshing change from Ursa, where nothing short of an arrow through the eye would get their attention.

            Mercury sprinted into the relative shelter of the temple seconds ahead of Emerald, who gouged her sickles free of her Griffon, falling a short distance to the temple as her mount crashed into the woods beyond. Emerald snapped new rounds into her revolver as Cinder fired another arrow at the oncoming swarm of Griffons. Neo climbed to one of the still-standing pillars, drawing her blade, and Mercury ducked behind a chunk of rubble.

            The Griffons dove through the temple, clawing and snapping at the students, relying on their speed to overwhelm their enemies’ defenses and keep them safe. They avoided most of Emerald’s bullets and Mercury’s blasts, but Cinder’s fire claimed three, and Neo skewered another as her illusions sent two dodging nonexistent threats into very real trees.

            As suddenly as the strafing had begun, it ended, and a handful of surviving Griffons pulled away from the temple, retreating out of range of their weapons above the right-hand stretch of trees. They wheeled around in tight formation, preparing for another attack, when a massive pink explosion bloomed in their midst. Stunned, confused, they scattered into the path of two more grenades. Bursts of submachine gun fire sent the few that survived crashing to earth.

            Neo waved to the two students emerging from the woods on the right. Nora waved back with even more enthusiasm, while Ren gave her a nod. As the rest of the students reloaded and caught their breath, Nora grabbed a golden rook from a pedestal and Emerald turned to Cinder and Neo.

            “Thanks for the save back there. Things would’ve been uglier without your help.”

            Neo smiled, then tossed her a black queen piece. Instinctively, Emerald caught it.

            “This is the relic? Great. Listen, we should-“

            Emerald was cut off as Nora entered the conversation.

            “It’s great to see you again! I don’t think I know the rest of you, though. I’m Nora, nice to meet you!”

            “Cinder.”

            “I’m Emerald, and that’s Mercury. On our way here-“

            “Incoming,” Mercury called from the edge of the temple, watching the skies.

            Immediately, Cinder was beside him, bow drawn and ready.

            “Where?”

             Shielding his eyes, he pointed to a speck in the air above the woods. “Don’t shoot,” he added, “I think it’s one of ours.”

            Indeed, the speck resolved into an approaching, flailing, human form. Cinder recognized him from before initiation began – she’d tripped him into the lockers. If his Semblance was something as useful as flight, perhaps she’d misjudged him.

            Jaune hit the ground, bounced, hit again, tumbled, throwing up clouds of dirt, and skidded to a stop a few meters from the temple.

            She hadn’t misjudged him.

            Ren hurried to his side, checking him for injuries, but he was already rising to his feet. Jaune staggered at first, but by the time he reached the temple, he was running with no sign of a limp.

            “Thank goodness I found you guys,” Jaune gasped, “My partner – Pyrrha – she’s in trouble. There’s a gigantic scorpion Grimm that way. It threw me here – she’s fighting it alone.”

            “Listen, we need to get out of here!” Emerald interjected. “Me and Mercury woke up a Grimm nest on the way here. They’re coming for us – there’s no point in fighting, now that we have the relics.”

            “I’m not going anywhere without Pyrrha,” Jaune interjected.

            “Splitting up would be unwise, especially given the defensible nature of our position.” Ren added.

            Before the debate could continue, Pyrrha sprinted clear of the left treeline, approaching the temple. Behind her, a massive Deathstalker smashed through the last of the obstructing trees and charged after her. In the distance, a Nevermore rose into view, surrounded by a group of Griffons. The massive Grimm closed the distance with the students, its massive wingbeats carrying it forward.

            Cinder split and sheathed her bow. Emerald was right – there were too many to fight head-on, especially with the Deathstalker to disrupt them in melee. “There are more extensive ruins ahead. We’ll have a better chance against the flyers there, with proper cover. Let’s go.”

            Neo fell in behind Cinder as she hurried out of the temple. Emerald and Mercury followed closely. Jaune grabbed the nearest relic – a golden rook – and waved to Pyrrha, beckoning her to follow. Ren and Nora brought up the rear, firing intermittent bursts at the Deathstalker as it pursued their group.

           

            The Grimm stayed out of range of their weapons, pacing themselves as the hunters fled. They never lost sight of their quarry, letting them exhaust themselves trying to flee. The Deathstalker flowed over the ground, matched by the Nevermore and its Griffon escorts in the air.

            Before long, the forest thinned out. The students sprinted towards the most intact section of the ruins: A tower rising out of a massive chasm, the bottom shrouded in mist. The only way to reach it was by one of the ancient stone bridges connecting it to the rest of the ruins. Cinder and company approached along a well-worn path that had been cleared almost completely of trees and shrubs. To either side, stone pillars supported massive stone structures that rose up in a steady stepped pattern. They looked for all the world like the bleachers of giants.

            As their prey approached the ruins, the Nevermore dipped lower, letting a spray of razor-sharp feathers fly. Nora yelled a warning to the others, then fired a grenade from Magnhild at the oncoming storm of flechettes. The blast scattered the feathers flying at her and Ren, sending them spinning away to lodge in the ground or embed themselves in the trees. Jaune and Emerald dove behind the ancient construction, which trembled with the impacts but held.  The remaining students dodged and weaved, avoiding the projectiles by scant inches at times.

            Cinder reached the bridge to the ruins first. She paused for a moment, catching her breath and evaluating the situation. The Nevermore was circling for another attack, and the Griffons followed it, unwilling to attack on their own. Behind her, the Deathstalker had put on speed, and would reach the hunters moments after they reached the bridge.

            As she came to a decision, the others began to arrive. Not giving them a chance to devise an inferior plan, she began speaking immediately.

            “Pyrrha, Neo, Emerald- we have the best chance of taking out the aerial Grimm, especially with higher ground. The rest of you should hold the Deathstalker here. Collapse the bridge if you have to.”

            Pyrrha’s partner stepped forward to protest, but she stopped him.

            “Jaune – she’s got a point. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

            Mercury contented himself with a quick “Good luck” to his partner, and then the Deathstalker was upon them. Nora and Ren opened fire, buying Cinder’s group time to retreat.

            “I assume we’re headed for the tower?” Pyrrha asked as they hurried along the bridge.

            “It gives us an excellent view and limited protection.” Cinder replied. “Neo, try and keep the Nevermore distracted while we deal with the Griffons, then we’ll focus on-“

            The Nevermore dove through their bridge.

            For the second time in as many hours, Cinder was falling. She could see Pyrrha ascending the falling rubble to safety and Emerald sinking her kusarigama into another of the bridges. Neo had vanished, but she couldn’t afford to focus on that now. Cinder tried to emulate Pyrrha’s tactic, but she didn’t have the dexterity or the training to ascend as she did. She almost made it, but the rubble was thinning out, and she knew she couldn’t make the last jump. Cinder contemplated aiming for an easier target – one of the columns supporting the structure – but immediately discarded the idea. She’d be easy pickings for the Griffons. Instead, steeling herself, she made one final leap, assembling her bow and drawing her final Dust arrow in midair. As she passed one final tumbling chunk of rubble, she fired, striking it dead-on. The blast blew her back onto solid ground at the base of the tower.

            Not giving herself a moment to catch her breath, Cinder forced herself back to her knees. Emerald grasped her arm and pulled her to her feet, turning to fire a volley at the circling Griffons before Cinder could formulate a reply. Pyrrha was close by, snapping off careful shots that each sent a Griffon tumbling into the fog below. She turned to the Nevermore, which was banking around for another attack, lined up a shot, then gave a surprised cry, pointing to the gigantic Grimm. Following her gaze, Cinder made out a small patch of cream clinging to its wing. The Nevermore threw itself into a spin, and Neo lost her grip, tumbling downward towards the mists below.

 

            The Deathstalker’s massive claw skidded off Jaune’s shield, throwing up a spray of sparks. Mercury vaulted the shield and grabbed the claw as the scorpion pulled it back, letting the Grimm throw him behind it. He landed in a crouch, throwing up a spray of dirt, and sprinted back towards it. Nora fired another shot from Magnhild, and Ren charged forward, keeping its attention on them, not him. The Grimm drew its tail back to strike, and Mercury leapt forward, landing feetfirst on its stinger.

            He fired his greaves, intending to launch himself back to set up another attack. His timing was off, though, and the stinger launched forward as he landed, launching him up, not back. Mercury reoriented himself in midair, devising a new plan. The Deathstalker’s stinger looked damaged. If he could come down on it and shoot it again, he might be able to sever it. As he tucked himself into a dive, a Griffon snatched him out of midair.

 

            Neo tumbled free of the Deathstalker, caught a glimpse of an approaching Griffon, _jumped_ blind, and landed atop it. She failed to find a handhold, and its momentum pulled her off its back, but she slammed her umbrella point-down into its side and extended her blade. The Grimm shrieked, its flight labored, but she’d arrested her fall. Taking a moment to scan her surroundings, she braced herself, then jumped to another Griffon, landing between its wings. Before it could react, she hooked her umbrella around its neck and pulled, steering it back toward the Nevermore.

            Seeing one of its brethren hijacked, another Griffon dove towards her from behind and above her current mount. She was running too low on Aura to teleport again, but before she could make a decision, an arrow sprouted from her attacker’s neck, and its dive became a plummet. 

 

            Emerald saw Mercury get grabbed. She didn’t panic – she hadn’t felt true fear since the pad had launched her into the forest. She’d laugh and shake later, working the emotions out of her system, but here and now Emerald could assess the situation dispassionately. She registered the Grimm grabbing at him with its claws, trying to tear him in two. She registered his struggles, the flash of flaring Aura as he tried to pull himself free. Her fear was elsewhere, bottled away from her mind. She reached out and touched the Griffon’s mind.

            Grimm were so easy to fool, but there was almost never any point in tricking one or two of them. Here, though, it took almost no Aura to convince the Grimm that it was no longer holding anything at all. No longer fending off claw slashes, Mercury twisted, bringing his knees to his chin and his boots to the Grimm’s chin before blowing its head off. He fell half a dozen meters to the tower, tucking into a roll and bouncing to his feet in one smooth move.

            As he landed, Pyrrha sprinted towards him, shield first. She called, “Give me a boost!” Mercury turned, saw her coming, and braced himself. She somersaulted over him, keeping her shield between them. As she passed him, Mercury pivoted and kicked her shield, firing his greaves and launching her towards the Deathstalker group.

            She flew, but not far enough. Pivoting, she launched her shield back at the tower. It ricocheted off the ancient stone and spun back towards her. Bringing her feet up, she kicked off her shield, returning it to the tower and boosting her forward momentum.

            This time, the shield flew straight for Mercury. He jumped, getting both feet off the ground to blast the shield and returning it to Pyrrha again. She caught the projectile with her left hand and brought her rifle up with her right. Pyrrha emptied the clip, not at an enemy, but for the recoil, gaining enough momentum to reach the other side of the bridge. She snapped another clip into her rifle as she rose, opening fire on the Deathstalker.

 

            Neo landed atop her latest Griffon, skewered it through the neck, then jumped off. She hooked her umbrella’s handle on another Griffon’s ankle, throwing what weight she had to divert it into the path of the Nevermore. She swung herself up and onto its back as the two flyers collided. The Nevermore smashed through the Griffon without slowing down in the slightest, flinging Neo onto its wing. She held her umbrella open with one hand, slowing herself down, as she stabbed her blade into its wing with the other.

            The Nevermore screamed as Neo’s momentum dragged her down its wing, gouging through its limb. Its glide became a sharp turn that sent it tearing towards the cliffside on the other end of the ruins. Neo jumped clear as it hit, slowing her fall with her umbrella and drifting towards the ground. As she landed, Mercury, Cinder, and Emerald joined her on the bridge to the Nevermore.

            The Nevermore tried to rise into the air and failed. Its wing hung by its side, immobile. The Grimm rose to its feet, calling for aid. None came. It turned back to the four hunters approaching it and screamed defiance.

            “Shall we?” Cinder asked.

 

            “Cinder Fall, Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai, Neopolitan Torchwick. The four of you retrieved the black queen pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team CMSN, led by… Cinder Fall.”

            Cinder couldn’t stop the grin that spread across her face. She was more than a student of Beacon now, she was a team leader. The other members of her team looked just as proud to be there. Neo stood tall – well, she stood straight, anyway – eyes shining. Emerald was having just as much trouble suppressing her grin, and Mercury was, for once, at a loss for sarcasm.

            They were a team, now. Huntresses and Hunter. The light, pushing back the darkness. Cinder knew she was being romantic, ignoring the perils and emphasizing the gains, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. Here, in this room, on this stage, she could believe that the rest was easy. She’d made it into Beacon. What couldn’t she do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Evening, folks! This chapter marks two important endpoints. Firstly, this is the end of the Emerald Forest arc. Secondly, now that introductions are out of the way, the butterflies are going to start piling up and this story is going to move further and further away from retracing canon. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I will see you in a week for Chapter Five: Toil and Trouble.


	9. Volume One, Chapter Five: Toil and Trouble

Volume One, Chapter Five: Toil and Trouble

 

            The newly-named team CMSN trudged through the dorm hallway in various stages of disarray. Emerald yawned enormously every few steps, Neo leaned heavily on her umbrella, and Mercury winced whenever he raised his arms to scratch his head or open a door. Cinder’s posture was perfect, but she clenched her white-knuckled fists tighter with each step. The backpacks and duffel bags they toted only made matters worse.

            “Whose great idea was it to put the first-year dorms at the far end of campus, again?”

            “It’s the cycle of life, Mercury. In a few years, we’ll be lording our privileges over the new arrivals and mocking their pain. They’ll grow bitter and seek to inflict the same injustices on the next generation, in retaliation for the wrongs they suffered at our hands.”

            “…I’m not sure if I like you more or less like this, Em.”

            “We’re here,” Cinder interrupted, setting down her duffel to retrieve her key. “Room 314.”

            The room was of moderate size, with two desks, a large window, and – most importantly – four beds. Cinder bent to pick up her bag again, only to stumble to one side as Neo pushed by, unceremoniously dumped her belongings at the foot of the closest bed, and collapsed into it.

            Rolling her eyes, Cinder followed her into the room, with Emerald and Mercury close behind. None of them wasted much time with small talk as they picked beds, unloaded their gear, and lay down.

            Cinder would have loved nothing more than to follow their example and fall asleep then and there, but restrained herself. She made her way to one of the desks, switched on a lamp, and set her blades down under the light. She didn’t have the tools for proper maintenance, but did the best she could to make sure the bowstring wasn’t in danger of snapping and the blades were still sharp. She’d done the best she could with the materials on hand, but Aura could only do so much to augment a weapon. Hers was showing definite wear and tear. There was nothing that needed immediate attention, thankfully, so she contented herself with committing to spend some time maintaining it in the near future.

            On a related note, she needed to check her Dust stockpiles. With a sigh, she turned back to the room, to find that the rest of her team had already fallen asleep. Moving quietly, she made her way to the foot of her bed and retrieved a heavy metal case from her bag. A year ago, it had been a simple SDC Dust case, filled with basic varieties of Dust for the aspiring Hunter or Huntress. Since then, she’d replaced the lock and hinges with heavier, sturdier versions. The case was pitted and scored with the marks of a year of hard travel, scuffing the Schnee snowflake that had adorned the top completely away. In its place, Cinder had scratched her symbol into it: A pair of high heels placed sole to sole, forming a heart.

            The lock clicked open noiselessly, and Cinder ran her fingers around the lid, pouring heat into the metal. The thin river of solder she’d used to seal the case shut melted, and she opened the lid before it could harden again. Cinder sorted through the vials with practiced fingers, occasionally lifting one to the light to peer at its meager reserves. She was running lower than she’d like. Between her week of intensive practice leading up to Beacon’s combat assessment, to initiation itself, she’d gone through a troubling amount of her supply. One more thing to remember to deal with.

            Cinder couldn’t address these things now. After initiation, she was tired, verging on exhausted. She closed the case, spending more Aura to heat the lid again. The heated metal reheated the solder, sealing the case again. She reset the lock, then walked back to bed. Stowing her gear was the work of a moment, then she crawled into bed. She’d worry about it tomorrow.

 

            The next day passed in a blur of syllabi, orientation, and preparation, as the freshmen acclimatized to their new home and the returning students trickled in. All in all, classes at Beacon involved considerably more paperwork and less combat than Neo had been hoping, but classes like _Introduction to Weapon Maintenance and Upgrades_ and _Grimm Combat 101_ gave her hope that she could weather _Hunting: a History_ and _The Economics of the Huntsman_.

            She’d been surprised by how well she knew some of the topics mentioned on the syllabus. Her education, up until now, had been both sporadic and erratic, but she was pleased to have conformation that it had covered the critical points. She might be lacking in some areas, like knowledge of history, but she could coast through some of her other classes and put extra time into them if needed.

            As the river of glassy-eyed students filed out of their last class for the day, Nora spotted a pair of distinctive hairstyles moving through the crowd. Darting through any available gaps (and occasionally elbowing someone out of the way), she emerged from the crush at Ren and Nora’s side.

            “Neo!” Nora exclaimed, hoisting her off the ground in a rib-creaking hug. “It’s so good to see you again!”  
            “Hello, Neo.” Ren contributed at a more reasonable volume.

            “You don’t have any more classes, do you? Me and Ren were just about to get dinner! Want to tag along?”

            As they walked along the path toward the dining hall, chatting amicably about their first day, Neo spotted Cinder heading in the same direction, towards the dining hall and the edge of campus. Neo waved her over, and after a moment, Nora joined in, beckoning her to the group.

            “It’s Nora and Ren, isn’t it? It’s good to see you again. You did quite well for yourselves during initiation.”

            “Thanks! You got plenty of Grimm yourself, too! You haven’t eaten yet, have you? We can try and track down the rest of our teams.”

            Cinder smiled apologetically. “I’m afraid I’ve already got plans. Today’s been quite stressful, so I’m treating myself to a meal at the Infrared.”

            Nora frowned. “I’ve never heard of it. Any good?”

            Ren, however, was staring at Cinder with a mix of disbelief and realization.

            “The Infrared is extremely expensive. How’d you get a reservation on such short notice? Did you say you go there to relax?”

            “Don’t get the wrong idea. It’s not a regular thing by any means. I planned it as a celebration, and it still is one, but the ambiance is very relaxing.”

            Nora let out a long whistle. “Well, I like Beacon’s pancakes just fine. All those fancy expensive dishes with two mouthfuls of food don’t interest me.”

            Cinder smiled. “Whatever works for you, then. I’ll be back late-there’s some errands I plan to run, as well.”

            Neo nodded, then waved as Cinder departed for the shuttle into Vale proper.

            “So Ren, just how expensive is this restaurant?”

            Ren told her.

 

            Ren picked at his food unenthusiastically. After the third time he circled a meatball around his plate, Neo nudged him and signed, _What’s eating you?_

            Ren shook himself, refocusing. “I’m sorry. I’m just wondering what it’s like, eating at a place like that. The chefs are all masters. It must be delicious.”

 

            Cinder took another bite of her burger, leaning against the food cart to stay under its shadow and out of the rain.

 

            “Beacon food’s just fine, you know! You weren’t complaining about their food this morning!”

            “I am very impressed by the level of commitment Beacon’s chefs have to their craft. Still, even if they were every bit as skilled as their counterparts, the ambiance there must be immeasurably better.”

           

            A car accelerated through the street, throwing up a wake of water to either side. Cinder barely had time to wince before the muddy wave crashed over her. Seething, she activated her Aura, and began to steam as the water evaporated away. She dropped what remained of her burger in a nearby trashcan.

 

            _How long does it take to get a reservation there?_

            “I’m hardly an expert, Neo, I only examined the place once or twice. The last time I checked, though, there was a waiting list of around two months, and I doubt it’s changed much since then. She must be quite patient.”

 

            Across the street, the Dust store’s lights flicked off. A moment passed, then the owner emerged, wearing a thick raincoat and carrying an umbrella and keyring. He juggled his keys, the door, and his umbrella for a moment before closing the shop door, sliding the key home, and locking the store. Satisfied, he pocketed his keys and made his way to his car. Cinder stepped out into the rain.

 

            “Don’t forget rich! Who do you think her parents were? Dad a Schnee corp executive? Mom a Huntress?”

            _Maybe. She doesn’t seem like the type, though._

 

            The sun had set an hour previously, and the rain reduced visibility further, but Cinder took no chances. Her dark jacket fell to her shins, concealing her crimson dress from view. She strode into the alley without hesitation, never slowing or appearing uncertain. Making a deft turn, she arrived at the garage at the back of the building.

 

            “She doesn’t seem like the type to have rich parents?”

            _Yeah. I was the only one on our team with more than two bags of stuff to unpack. If she’s rich, she’s very restrained._

            Cinder pressed her hand to the metal sheeting sealing the rear entrance to the store. After a moment, the rain running down it began to bubble and steam. After another, the metal was completely dry. The section of metal Cinder touched began to glow cherry red, than orange, than droop and sag like melting ice.

 

            “Maybe she’s got a Hunter in the family, then! They’d be big on the whole self-reliance and discipline thing.”

            “She certainly does have discipline.”

 

            Once the hole in the door was large enough, Cinder let it cool. She crouched down and stepped through, panting slightly from the exertion of her Semblance. Once she recovered, she conjured a ball of flame, glancing around at the garage and the crates neatly stacked in one corner of it.

 

            _Maybe I’ll ask her about her family. Any bets on what the truth is?_

“I will pass.”

            “Sweet! Twenty Lien on a Hunter in the family!”

 

            A bit of force with a handy crowbar, and the crate popped open. Cinder opened her backpack, retrieved her Dust case, and set it atop the lip of the crate. Moving quickly, she began filling it with the flame Dust crystals within. After filling it halfway, she moved to another crate.

 

            _Deal._

“Deal!”

 

            Cinder snapped her case closed and grabbed one last vial of flame Dust. Exiting the garage, she sprinkled the powder on the melted opening, then some more on the ground around it. No reason to advertise that the burglar could create flame at will, after all. Finally, she placed the crowbar on the ground and heated it until it glowed, destroying her fingerprints.

 

            “So long as we are speculating on the history of our friend, would you also care to place bets on the errands she is running?”

 

            Cinder handed the cashier twenty Lien and purchased a copy of _Sign Language for Beginners._

            _I think he’s being sarcastic._

 

            It was past midnight by the time Cinder returned to her dorm. She opened the door to her room quietly, padding into the room past her sleeping teammates. Cinder stowed her case and coat and finally collapsed into bed.

 

            The next day was a welcome change from the frantic pace of yesterday’s orientation. None of CRDL or JNPR had classes before midmorning, and Neo and Nora conspired to get their teammates awake and to the dining hall at the same time that morning.

            “I’m just saying, it seems like Ozpin’s really reaching with these team names.”

            Ren finished his drink, then asked, “What makes you say that?”

            “Well, look at the names he picked,” Emerald continued, waving the syrup for emphasis, “Cardinal? Juniper?”

            “They are unusual, but colors do exist that are associated with those things.”

            “Okay, that’s true. Still, you do have to admit he’s pushing the acronyms pretty far. The only reason our team’s works at all is because he used my last name.”

            “Would you prefer he used your first name?” Mercury interjected as he retrieved a sausage from Jaune’s plate.

            There was a pause.

            “I mean, it _is_ technically associated with a color, but I think the rest of you would feel a little left- ow!”

            “ _Thank_ you, Neo,” Emerald said. The rest of the table nodded in agreement.

            “Mff mffgg gfm fmmfgg,” Nora contributed.

            Ren prodded her, and she swallowed her pancakes before clarifying.

            “I like the names! Sure, they’re a little silly, but they’re part of being a team, you know? Traditions are important. Even the silly ones.”

            “I can’t argue with that, I suppose.”

            “I consider it quite flattering,” Cinder said. She attempted to cut a slice of butter off the stick with little success, ran her hand over the butter knife, and easily retrieved a slice for her toast. She’d overcome the fatigue of her late night with the aid of coffee, and no one had commented on her unusually late return, leaving her feeling somewhat smug.

            Mercury groaned. “Now you’ve done it. There’s been no living with her since she made team leader _and_ the team named after her.”

            Pyrrha spoke up from her omelet. “Come now. There’s plenty of people at Beacon who wear red – including myself. Just because Cinder wears crimson doesn’t mean Ozpin named the team after her.”

            Neo snorted and made a set of gestures, tapping her chin and fluttering her hands. Nora watched closely, mouthing along.

            “That’s… um, ‘your name isn’t something, something something’, right?”

            “Your name isn’t Fire Redleaves, I think.”

            Jaune choked on his water, launching into a coughing fit. Pyrrha gave him a few thumps on the back, and he subsided.

            “Thanks, Pyrrha. Oh-I was going to say that I like the names. I mean, what else would you call yourselves, Cinder’s team?”

            Cinder raised an eyebrow. “Tempting, but that seems rather narcissistic. I think something that blatant would be overdoing it.”

            Mercury fumbled for his napkin as he developed a peculiar cough that sounded a great deal like “Cardin-and-CRDL.”

            Emerald sighed. “For once, we agree. I have no idea what Ozpin was thinking, naming their team after that meathead. ”

            Nora growled. “I know! I can’t wait for the end of the week.”

            “What happens then?” asked Jaune.

            “There are student-student matches once a week, silly!” Nora explained. “We can pummel him and get good grades for it!”

            Neo leaned across the table to exchange a high-five with Nora.

            “Between our two teams, it is likely that some of us will be selected to battle CRDL – or each other.” Ren said.

            Pyrrha polished off her breakfast, than said, “Let’s hope it’s the former, then,” to general agreement.

            The remainder of the meal passed with less significant discussion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dust's expensive, and Cinder doesn't have the funds to maintain her stock legitimately.  
> Thank you all for tuning in every week to read this fic! We've passed one thousand hits, which I think warrants a little celebration. It also warrants an upgrade to the summary, which you've probably noticed by now. I hope you enjoy, and I will see you in a few days for Chapter Six: Stress!  
> (I've been waiting to make the CMEN joke since I started writing this thing. Feels good to finally get it out there.)


	10. Volume One, Chapter Six: Stress

Volume One, Chapter Six: Stress

 

            The Beacon Academy workshop was everything Cinder had expected and more. The large room was divided into several subsections by type. The area the students were in now was the most densely packed with workbenches, each well-stocked with basic tools. Pressed up against it was a metalworking section with a roaring forge and high-quality welding tools. The other side of the room was packed with a number of large machines – Cinder recognized an ammunition press, lathe, and one or two others, but many more eluded her. As she attempted to puzzle out the purpose of a particularly intimidating device, which consisted of a pair of massive metal rollers, Glynda Goodwitch entered the room. Once again, all conversation stopped and all heads turned to the instructor – she compelled attention.

                        “Hello, students.” Goodwitch began, “Welcome to your first class on the maintenance and modification of your weapons. Some of you may be wondering why someone like Professor Port or Oobleck has not been selected to teach this class. After all, their weapons exhibit the traditional duality of the Huntsman, while mine is typically used as a focus for my Semblance. You will learn that the type of weapon you wield has no bearing on the amount of skill required to care for it. A Dust user, such as myself, must be constantly on guard against the possibility of uncontrolled detonations or containment failure. Those who wield transforming weapons devote enormous quantities of time to ensuring that the mechanisms involved work smoothly and well under all circumstances. Those who use neither find their time occupied by metal fatigue, denting, chipping, blunting, and the many other ways the condition of a weapon degrades.”  
            “To begin: This class is for those of you who have already built a weapon, and presupposes a degree of familiarity with many of the tools of this workshop. You will learn how to combat the slow degradation of your weapons in this class. You will learn which modifications will improve your odds of survival and which will reduce them. You will not learn how to craft a weapon wholesale. If you require this knowledge, you are in the wrong class. Now: your weapons have all seen a great deal of use during initiation. Repair them to the best of your ability and present them to me in order to leave. That is all.”

            Cinder placed her weapon on the workbench before her and got to work, beginning with a simple cleaning of her blades. To her left, Neopolitan unfurled her umbrella, testing the struts for damage. To her right, Emerald began dismantling her revolvers, and beyond her, Mercury rested his right foot on his left knee and began inspecting the mechanisms of his greaves.

            The first few minutes of class went smoothly. Cinder finished cleaning her blades and began working on reinforcing her bowstring. She’d nearly finished restringing her bow when the student beyond Neo – Cardin Winchester, she realized with annoyance – made his presence known.

            It had only been three days since initiation, but Cardin and his team had already made their unsavory, unpleasant nature very clear. Between his casual cruelty at lunch, his irreverence for Beacon’s staff, and his abrasive nature, he had very quickly become an annoyance in every class they shared.

            Neo seemed to share this opinion, so when he leaned over and muttered “Hey. You busy?” She ignored him, focusing on a particularly stubborn joint in her umbrella. Expecting this, Cardin forged onward.

            “Nah, you’re not that busy. Anyway, I wanted to talk with you. Well, I wanted to talk _to_ you. I know you’re not so great at replying, are you?”

            Neo’s reply consisted of an eloquent, one-finger gesture. He chuckled.

            “So, I’ve been wondering since initiation, when they were calling out teams: Are you related to _that_ Torchwick?”

            Neo rolled her eyes and popped the umbrella joint back into position, studiously ignoring him now.

            “I didn’t think I’d heard correctly at first, because it seemed so unlikely. The more I thought about it, though, the more I was sure that Ozpin did say Torchwick, and that’s not exactly a common last name, is it? Eventually, I checked the mailing list, and, lo and behold, your last name is Torchwick. What are the odds of that?”

            Cardin paused, searching for a reaction. Cinder strained her ears, listening for the next sentence. She was torn between intervening and waiting, but Neo didn’t seem to need the help. Besides, to tell the truth, she was interested in where he was going. The name Torchwick did seem vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn’t remember where she’d heard it before. Cardin continued.

            “So, I figure you’ve got to be related to Roman Torchwick, but I never heard that he had a kid. Or anything about the mother, but-“

            At this, Neo shook her head, exasperation plain on her features.

            “You’re not his kid? C’mon, do you really expect me to believe that there’s another family out there with that last name?”

            Neo declined to respond to this, moving on to a careful cleaning of her umbrella.

            Cardin shrugged. “Well, whatever. I’d deny I was related to him, too, if my last name was Torchwick.”

            Cinder found her eyes drifting to Neo’s hands. She was still running a cloth over her umbrella, but she was gripping her umbrella so hard her knuckles had turned white.

            “Heck, I’m surprised the headmaster admitted you at all. You’ve got to be pretty embarrassing for Beacon.”

            Neo closed her eyes, then opened them again. Instead of her usual heterochromatic eyes, both were a uniform pink.

            “Then again, your dad had enough pull with the authorities that they didn’t just shoot him in the street, so-“

            Neo rose from her seat, drawing her blade from her umbrella and lunging for Cardin in one smooth, graceful motion entirely at odds with the naked rage on her face. Cinder was expecting an outburst, but she was still taken by surprise, and she barely managed to get an arm around Neo’s midsection, halting her attack. Neo’s blade sliced through the air inches from Cardin’s face, then Cinder activated her Aura and pulled her back, tossing her into the aisle behind their workbenches.

            Neo landed in a handstand, flipping back onto her feet and skidding to a halt. Cinder interposed herself between Cardin and her teammate, getting a good look at Neo’s face. Her teeth were bared in a soundless snarl and her eyes were fixed on Cardin, ready to attack again.

            Emerald and Mercury scrambled to their feet as ripples of alarm spread through the classroom, but Neo lunged for Cardin again before anyone could intervene. Cinder caught her by the wrists, holding her back through sheer force of Aura. When it became clear that she couldn’t get through, Neo sagged, ending her struggles. Before Cinder could release her, she was seized in bonds of invisible force and bodily separated from her partner. The two of them were hoisted several inches into the air.

            “Sparring rings and referees are provided for this purpose, Miss Torchwick, Miss Fall. This is neither the time nor the place for such a fight.” Glynda strode forward, keeping the combatants separated and suspended with the aid of her crop, which was now radiating purple light.

            Cinder was slightly gratified to see shock and surprise on Cardin’s face. Whatever he’d expected Neo to do, an attack wasn’t it.

            “Can I trust the two of you to finish this class without further interruptions?” Glynda asked.

            They nodded. There didn’t seem to be anything else to do.

            Unceremoniously, Glynda released them and returned to the front of the classroom. Neo and Cinder returned to their workbenches, studiously ignoring the stares of the rest of the classroom.

 

            After class, Cinder and her team congregated in the hallway. The room emptied quickly, students dispersing to their other classes, leaving them with a modicum of privacy.

            Cinder began speaking as soon as the last student turned the corner. “Let me make something clear. That was unacceptable. It will not happen again.” She bit off each word with perfect enunciation, crisp and clear.

            Neo stared at her, angry and betrayed, but Mercury cut off her reply. “What are you talking about? _Someone_ needed to go after him. Are you just mad you didn’t get to do it?”

            Cinder rounded on him, milking their one inch of height difference for everything it was worth. “It was unacceptable because it reduced our standing with the faculty, earned us the enmity of team CRDL, and accomplished nothing valuable. Violent outbursts-“

            “Look at you using the big words. Neo proved she won’t take his shit, and now he’ll back off, simple as that. I bet that’s what the teachers want us to do with students like him. They sure haven’t been intervening, have they?”

            Emerald forced herself between Cinder and Mercury. “Mercury, that’s enough. Back off, you’re not helping.”

            “What, you’re taking her side? I can’t believe you, of all people, would willingly side with Miss stick-so-far-up-her-“

            “Mercury! I’m not siding with either of you, but you are being so much worse-“

            “If I needed your help maintaining order, I would ask for it, Emerald.”

            Emerald stared at Cinder, struggling to find something to say. Mercury looked torn between amusement and offense. Neo stepped forward, signing in broad, sweeping gestures that Cinder managed to decipher.

_I’m not going to sit there and listen while he says that about my uncle. Don’t ask me to._

            “I’m asking,” Cinder replied, keeping a steady tome, “for restraint. Blindly attacking your problems doesn’t solve anything, and it reflects badly on all of us.”

            “You just can’t stand the thought that we aren’t your perfect little puppets, can you?” Mercury mocked. “I’m nobody’s happy little soldier, least of all yours. Just because you’re the team leader doesn’t mean I’m going to fall in line-“

            “That is exactly what it means.”

            “No. No.” Mercury seemed ready to continue, but struggled to find the words. After a moment, he shook his head, letting out the breath he was holding. “I’m done. I’ll be back later.” He turned and left, vanishing down a hallway. Emerald started after him, then stopped, glancing back at Cinder and Neo. For a moment she wavered, then she hurried after him. Cinder turned to Neo. The shorter girl made an eloquent, one-finger gesture, then the illusion shattered, leaving empty hallway in its place.

            Cinder stood alone in the hallway. A cauldron of seething rage, disappointment, betrayal, and other feelings she struggled to name bubbled within her. She fought to regain control of her emotions, trying to restrain the heat bubbling off her body in waves. The far end of the corridor shimmered with a heat haze as the temperature climbed rapidly from a cool fall day to the middle of summer. Her fingernails dug deep into her palms as she wrestled her Semblance into submission. Finally, after minutes of concentrated willpower, she regained control and extinguished the heat.

            “If it makes you feel better,” A voice behind her announced, “I’ve seen worse starts to better teams.”

            Cinder spun, coming face to face with Glynda Goodwitch. A hundred replies battled for superiority, and the one that won out was “How long have you been there?”

            “Not long, but I did overhear your argument. You’ve got a lot of learning to do.” Glynda strode away, pulling up a file on her scroll. Cinder stared after her for a moment, then hurried to catch up.

            “ _I’ve_ got a lot to learn? My teammates are the issue.”

            “Even Emerald? She was trying to help you.”

            “She made me look weak. I can handle Mercury on my own, without help. I shouldn’t have to look to his partner to bring him in line.”

            Glynda stopped, turned, and stared at her for a moment. “What kind of team have you lead before, Cinder?”

            “The kind that knew how to follow orders,” Cinder snapped.

            Glynda sighed and adjusted her glasses before continuing forward. “I recognize that you’ve been placed on a team with some of our more… strong-willed students, and that they’re giving you problems, but you can’t expect or compel blind obedience from anyone. Leadership is earned, Miss Fall.”

            “And how do you recommend I do that? I’ve demonstrated my abilities. They should have the sense to recognize my acumen.”

            “I didn’t mean earned by skill. There’s a social element as well. All the tactical acumen in the world won’t help you if they don’t respect you. You’re trying to browbeat your teammates into obedience. That rarely brings out the best in people. Consider Headmaster Ozpin and myself. Why do you think that I work for him?”

            Cinder paused. “You’re going to tell me that it’s not just because he’s a capable headmaster.”

            “Indeed. Ozpin sees the best in people, and has a gift for drawing that out. I work for him because I believe that he’s making a difference, and I want to help him do so. That’s another thing – by helping to keep Beacon Academy going, I’m a part of something bigger than myself. Why are _you_ here, Miss Fall?”

            They walked in silence for a minute. When Cinder made no move to continue their conversation, Glynda spoke again.

            “I’ve reviewed your test scores, combat and academic. I have no doubt you would do quite well in whatever you set your mind to. There are a number of private and government-run military outfits that would appreciate your skills. You would rise through the ranks, achieve some accolades, and no doubt gain command of a squad or other such group. You’d have your unconditional obedience.”

            She leaned down and locked eyes with Cinder.

            “We both know you can do better.”

            Glynda gestured to the wall behind Cinder. The corridor they stood in was lined with pictures of Hunter teams and individuals. Below each was a plaque inscribed with names and dates. The ones closest to them showed Hunters dressed in modern clothing, wielding advanced, polished weaponry. The pictures continued, containing increasingly archaic clothing and weapons. At the end of the corridor, disappearing around a corner, the pictures were cracked and yellowed with age.

            “Every one of these Hunters died saving lives. Many were trained here. None will ever be forgotten. Beacon is not a school for personal gain. Here, we teach you to fight for others, to become a shield for humanity. In the process, you will become far greater than any Atlas Specialist or Mistral politician.”

            Cinder stared at the memorial wall. Glynda waited. Eventually, Cinder asked, “How would I begin?”

            Glynda smiled. “Prove you’re a good leader. I suspect Mister Black will be the sticking point. Win over the others, prove you can lead a team without being too abrasive about it, and he’ll come around.”

            “Thank you” didn’t seem sufficient, but she couldn’t think of anything else.

            Glynda nodded. “You have great potential, Miss Fall. I have every confidence you will be able to reign in your team.”

            Glynda’s scroll began beeping. With a sigh, she glanced at the screen, then back to Cinder. “I need to go. Think about what we’ve discussed.” She turned and strode away down the corridor, vanishing around the corner.

            Cinder examined the photographs for a long time.

 

            It took the rest of the day to track down Emerald. Cinder eventually found her sitting on the roof of the dorm, her back to a chimney, staring down at the lawn. She sat next to her, perched on the tiles. Emerald gave a start as she sat down – Cinder had been very quiet – then relaxed when she recognized Cinder.

            “I was too harsh with you.” Cinder began.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update on Wednesday? Madness!  
> I'm releasing this one early to celebrate making it to one thousand hits. I'm not going to do this every thousand, or even every few thousand, but this seemed like a good milestone. So, have an episode about Cinder's canonical leadership style clashing with her team's current status. What fun.  
> Thanks for reading, and I will see you all on Saturday.


	11. Volume One, Chapter Seven: Respite

Volume One, Chapter Seven: Respite

 

            “I was too harsh with you.” Cinder said.

            Emerald blinked. “That’s not what I expected. I thought you were all about loyalty from your subordinates.”

            “Our team cannot function if you won’t do as you’re told. This is still true.”

            Emerald grimaced, dropping Cinder’s gaze. She continued, “However, it’s becoming clear to me that I cannot demand loyalty without reason or explanation. You’ve seen me in action, in the Emerald Forest. Do you doubt that I make an effective leader?”

            “No!” Emerald exclaimed. “I don’t- It’s-“

            Cinder waited. Emerald mustered her thoughts and continued.

            “You just- expect us to get out of the way and let you work. You never ask for suggestions, or advice, or anything else.”

            “It never occurred to me that I would need it.”

            “Do you really think you're that good? Look, you might know tactics, but I know people. You’re going to antagonize a lot of people if you can’t accept that you’re not the only person in the room with good ideas.” Emerald paused, then added, "You'll be wrong, too."

            Cinder arched an eyebrow. “Oh, really?”

            “Well..." Emerald began, unwilling to continue. Cinder gestured impatiently, and she finished: "We had experience working with our partners by the time we met up in the ruins. Splitting up the partner groups lost that. Then, you put us in danger by running us along the bridge, which the Nevermore hit. We’d have been better off on solid ground.”

            Emerald twisted away from her seat against a chimney to face Cinder directly. “I’m not saying you should have taken a vote in the middle of the fight, but my point is that you’re not the only one with good ideas. We’re people, not automata.”

            Cinder paused. As much as it rankled to admit it, Emerald had a point. “I’ll remember that.”

            Emerald smiled. “It’s fine. I’m just impressed that you were willing to back down about it.” She got to her feet, offering Cinder a hand up. “C’mon, let’s get off this roof. You must be cold.”

            Cinder accepted her hand and rose. Emerald blinked. “Wow, I was wrong. You’re not cold at all. How do you do that?”

            “I can do more with my Semblance than just fling fire around. Why aren’t you cold?”

            “I was sitting against a chimney. They’re real warm when they’re working. Not much shelter from the rain, but if you’ve got a tarp…” Emerald trailed off. After a moment’s pause, she released Cinder’s hand and dropped down to the window back to the dorm. Cinder followed her in and shut the window behind her, shutting out the cold wind. The sun was setting, and the autumn chill was present in the air.

            Aside from them, the dorm was empty. Neither Neo nor Mercury had returned yet.

            “I can talk to Neo, make sure she’s not holding a grudge,” Emerald offered. “You should deal with Mercury, though.”

            “He is _your_ partner.” Cinder pointed out.

            “He’s mad at you. Besides, he doesn’t take me seriously, not in the same way. I can try to cheer him up, if I have to, but you should be the one to talk to him about this. Trust me, I know people, remember?”

            “Very well. Do you have any advice for dealing with him?”

            Emerald paused, leaning back on her bed.

            “He’s not usually this genuine about things. Usually, you can beat around the bush a little, but I think you should just address it straight out. Don’t draw things out, get it over with.”

            Cinder nodded. “I can handle that. You’ll talk to Neo?”

            “I’ll talk to Neo. Pyrrha let me know they were having a movie night-I’ll stop by. You should talk to her at some point too, though.”

            “One thing at a time.”

 

            “Oh, come on!” Nora called, sitting up straighter on the bed and pitching a handful of popcorn at the screen. “You had him dead to rights! He can’t escape that!”

            “You’d be surprised what someone can accomplish with surprise and a little luck,” Pyrrha halfheartedly argued.

            “There were three of them, and he was wounded and surrounded! There was no surprise! It’s shoddy writing, is what it is.”

            “Would you have it any other way?” Ren asked from Nora’s left, passing the ice cream to Neo, perched at the other end of the bed.

            “Bah! If there’s shoddy writing, it should be for the purpose of added action! Explosions and chase scenes! This involves neither.”

            Neo signed, _Give it time. With the villain still running around, there’ll be plenty of action in the next few episodes._

            “Who are you, and what have you done with Neo?” Nora joked. “You’ve seen even more B-movie action flicks than I have! We should never have to wait for the fights!”

            Neo frowned. _Just not in the mood, I guess._

“Rough day?” Asked Pyrrha. They’d all seen her storm into the dorm that afternoon, and had hastily put the movie night together primarily for her benefit, but it seemed like the thing to ask.

            Neo nodded. _Got in a fight with Cardin._

            “You, too?” Jaune asked, then backpedaled when attention shifted to him. “Uh, that is to say, it seems like he’s picked fights with several people. That I know.”

            “Don’t beat yourself up about it,” Ren offered. “It is likely he deserved it.”

            Neo smiled, then continued. _Got in a fight with Cinder about the fight with Cardin._

            Ren paused for a moment before translating that.

            _She was probably right. At the least, I shouldn’t have attacked him right in front of Goodwitch. I just –_ Neo paused and took a deep breath. _He said things – my uncle – I’m so sick of hearing that. It was like she didn’t care about what he did, she just wanted a nice, unblemished record with the faculty. I thought she was supposed to have my back._

When Ren finished translating this, Nora got up and made her way around the bed to Neo. She held her arms open, and Neo accepted the offer, leaning into a hug that was much less rib-creaking than Nora’s usual. “We’ve got your back. Always.”

            “It does sound like Cinder was in a difficult situation,” Pyrrha offered. “You should talk to her about it.”

            _Guess so._ Neo nodded.

            Emerald cracked the door open. “Hi, guys… am I interrupting anything?”

            Neo shook her head and motioned Emerald to enter.

            She made her way inside, avoiding the worst of the popcorn strewn across the room as she approached the bed opposite Neo. Emerald sat and leaned towards her teammate. “Hey. You doing okay?”

            Neo nodded.

            “Good. First off, I’m with Mercury on this one: Cardin deserves a good smacking. If you want to track him down sometime and fight him, I’ll help.

            Emerald was a long way from fluent, but she recognized Neo’s _Thank you._

            She continued, “Our lives are going to be a lot easier if we work with Cinder.”

            Neo grimaced and rolled her eyes.

            “I know you haven’t gotten along well with her, but this is important. We can’t be at each other’s throats like this.”

            _I understand. Once the student matches are out of the way for the week, will you back me up when I talk to her?_

Emerald sighed. She ran her hands through her hair, shifting her weight on the bed. After a moment, she met Neo’s eyes again. “This fight you had with Cinder – it means that much to you?”

            _Yep._

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

            _Nope_.

            “…Okay. I’ll back you up – after we make it through the matches.”

 

            The first target vanished in a hail of pellets from Mercury’s greaves. The blast continued forward, striking two more holograms on the edge of their bull’s-eyes before connecting with the far wall. Mercury was already sprinting to his left. He leapt into the air, brought his legs up, and slammed them through another target. He fired another blast in midair, striking another target and flipping himself upside down. Mercury landed on his hands, spinning and striking two more to either side. He bounced back to his feet and planted his left foot on the ground, firing four shots from his right at the distant targets. As they flickered and vanished, he charged the remaining holograms. Without slowing down, he dove into a roll, emerging feetfirst through the nearest target. His momentum carried him into the midst of the last three, which he dispatched in one smooth, spinning strike.

            “Simulation complete.” Announced the sparring room. “Run again?”

            “Again.” Mercury confirmed.

            This time, he took a more aggressive approach, minimizing his use of ranged attacks. It took longer, but striking the targets personally felt more satisfying.

            “Simulation complete.” Announced the sparring room. “Run again?”

            “Again.” Mercury confirmed.

            The targets materialized, and he lunged into motion. The left-hand targets went down almost immediately, and he charged to his right, bringing down two more with a single strike. He quickly dispatched the remaining ones in his area, and spun to face the remaining half-

            The remaining holograms vanished in a blaze of flame.

            “Simulation complete.” Announced the sparring room. “New record completion time.”

            Rolling his eyes, Mercury turned to greet the new arrival.

            “What do you want, Cinder?”

            “What do you think, Mercury? Like it or not, I’m this team’s leader. You need to accept that.”

            Mercury stepped forward, glaring at Cinder. “I told you before, I’m not going to just shut up and fall in line because you told me to. Neo was right to go after him.”

            Cinder bit back her instinctive reply-a harsh rebuke, something to put him back in his place. _Trust your teammates. What’s the worst that could happen?_ “You’re my teammate. I need to know I can trust you. I’m not asking for unconditional obedience – _But I should be –_ I’m asking you to trust that I know what I’m doing. If you’ve got a problem, take it up with me, but don’t challenge me like that in the middle of the event. I will not tolerate that.”

            Mercury frowned. Whatever he’d been expecting, that wasn’t it. After a moment, he relaxed. “We’ll see. I still think you’re a control freak.”

            Cinder rolled her eyes. “We don’t have to like each other, but we do need to be able to work together. The student matches are tomorrow. How far do you think we’ll get if we’re still fighting over this?”

            Mercury nodded. “Fine. I’m willing to behave while we’re on the field. Off it, I can handle myself.”

            _I’ll take what I can get._ “Are you prepared for tomorrow’s matches?”

            “All tuned up and good to go. The Dust they provide’s pretty low-quality, but it’ll do. It’ll be good to do some proper fighting.” Mercury grinned.

            “Good.” Cinder said. “I’ll leave you to it, then.”

            She left, closing the doors behind her. Mercury sighed and made his way to one of the benches ringing the training arena. He sat heavily, drew a case of Dust out of his pocket, and began reloading his greaves. Once he finished, he ran his fingers over his thighs, then drew his pants up to inspect the seam between flesh and metal.

            His ankles ached. With a sigh, he stood and made his way to the exit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's the next chapter. A little shorter than usual, but it's mostly setup. It was an interesting exercise, determining how the three different conversations here play out. Everyone's still got a lot of character development to go, but they're headed in the right direction. Next week: Student versus student with Chapter Eight: Crucible! See you then.


	12. Volume One, Chapter Eight: Crucible

Volume One, Chapter Eight: Crucible

 

            Cinder woke early, dressed, and left her room as the first rays of sunlight filtered in. She made her way to the cafeteria, walking through quiet halls. This early in the morning, she had the dining hall nearly to herself. Cinder ate quickly, and left before any other members of her team arrived. A glance at her scroll showed that she had just under an hour before the student sparring matches that would begin today’s classes.

           Her gear was in the locker where she left it. Cinder tapped in the code absently, mind elsewhere. Quiver first: loaded with her new fire Dust arrows, plain razor-tipped arrowheads, and blunt arrows with a heavier Dust load. It was more gimmicky than she usually used, but the variety would help when fighting Hunters. Against intelligent opponents, disorientation and confusion was as essential as firepower. Next, her bow: Cinder split it, reattached the halves, tested the string. Satisfied, she detached the blades and sheathed them at her waist.

            Sparring rooms were located close to the lockers. Cinder found one, entered, and began to stretch, working through a set of exercises from the simple to the strenuous. After finishing the basic exercises, she drew her bow, striking holographic targets at increasing range, then while moving, then while they evaded. By the room’s intermediate difficulty, she was missing more shots than she hit.

            Cinder took a breath, centered herself, and activated her Aura. Moving with speed, she snapped off a dozen shots in as many seconds, striking each target dead center. With Aura, she finished her exercises with minimal exertion. Cinder retrieved her arrows and left the room. With fifteen minutes until the matches began, the plan that had been percolating in her brain since yesterday assumed its final form.

            Cinder loitered by the entrance to the arena, pretending to be engrossed in her scroll. It didn’t take long for her teammates to arrive. Mercury hung back from Emerald and Neo, but they arrived as a loose group. It was a start. Cinder slid her scroll into a pocket as they approached, nodding to them. She was pleased to see that they were all armed and dressed in their typical, combat-tested outfits, not the constricting, optional school uniforms.

            “You’re ready?” she asked.

            “All set,” Emerald said, drumming her fingers against her leg nervously. “We might not be selected to fight at all, though.”

            “Oh, we’ll be selected,” Cinder replied, smiling. “Don’t worry about that.”

            “Fabulous.” Emerald muttered, flicking her eyes to the ceiling.

            “Not looking forward to this, Em?” Mercury asked.

            “I don’t have much experience fighting people,” Emerald explained. “Grimm are different – last time I had to fight humans, it didn’t go well.”

            Mercury sighed, mentally weighing pros and cons. After a moment, he came to a decision and stepped forward and around Neo, meeting Emerald’s eyes.

            “It’s not that different.” Mercury said. “Just keep moving, keep them off balance. You’ll do fine.”

            Neo nodded, giving Emerald a thumbs-up.

            Emerald smiled. “Thanks, guys. C’mon, let’s go get seats.”

            “Oh, you go ahead,” Cinder said, “I need to take care of something. I’ll be there soon.”

            Neo arched her eyebrow at Cinder, but when no further explanation was forthcoming, she shrugged and left. Emerald and Mercury followed, leaving Cinder in the hallway.

            Cardin and his team took their time showing up, arriving just before the start of class. When Cinder saw them coming, she straightened up, keeping them in her peripheral vision. As they passed her, she stepped into the hallway, walking just behind them. She put on a burst of speed, elbowing her way through their group, ignoring the “Hey, watch it!” and “Look where you’re going!” of Cardin’s teammates.

            She reached the entrance ahead of team Cardinal by a few steps, opened the door into Cardin, and slipped through before they could catch up. Smiling benignly, she made her way though the seats to the rest of her team, ignoring the angry mutters behind her. She took her seat, next to Emerald, just as Glynda entered the arena.

            “This is the first of the weekly student matches that we will be conducting. Students will fight, singly or in groups, against other students. Elimination will occur when Aura is depleted to dangerous levels, as determined by the arena’s sensors. Are there any volunteers for the first round?”

            Cinder was rising from her seat before Glynda finished her sentence. “Team Crimson would like to volunteer,” she called.

            “Very well, Cinder. Are there any-“

            Cardin shot out of his seat. “We’re volunteering.”

            Glynda eyed the two leaders, and Cinder was certain she suspected something, but she nodded and beckoned the Hunters down, into the arena.

            As her team made their way down, Neo nudged Cinder and pointed at Cardin, giving her a questioning look.

            “I may have given him a reason to challenge us, yes.” Cinder murmured.

            Neo grinned, giving her a thumbs-up as they reached the arena floor. Cinder allowed herself a smirk. _You’re not the only one who’s good with people, Emerald._

            As the two teams readied themselves, Cinder evaluated her opponents. Cardin carried a massive mace. Evasion would be the best policy there. To his left, Russel wielded a pair of shortswords with dust crystals set into the hilts. A supporter then, someone to be isolated and eliminated. To Cardin’s right, Dove drew a simple blade. Straightforward enough. Sky, hanging back, possessed a polearm.

            Glynda left the battlefield. The lights dimmed. Speaking low and quick, Cinder said: “I’ll take Sky. Neo, Cardin’s yours. Mercury, Dove. Emerald, go after Russel. Focus on keeping him away from the others, not taking him down.”

            “Cinder…” Emerald murmured.

            “ _Trust me”_ Cinder hissed.

            “No, I mean – which one’s Russel?”

            Cinder resisted the urge to bury her head in her hands. “The one with the Dust swords.”

            “Great, thanks.”

            “Begin.” Glynda intoned, and the two teams charged one another.

 

            Mercury took the lead, sprinting towards the opposition. Dove snapped his blade up and fired a volley of bullets, sending Mercury darting around to the side, putting Russel between himself and Dove. Emerald and Cinder advanced more slowly, firing shots at their chosen targets.

            Cardin shoved Russel out of the way and charged Mercury, who grinned and dropped into a crouch. In a flash, Neo Blinked in front of Cardin, tugging at his arm and sending him stumbling off-course. He landed, rolled, and came up with his mace held defensively. Neo strolled towards him, blade already separated from her umbrella. She smiled as she advanced.

            Russel flicked the Dust cartridges on his weapons, locking a new type into place. He launched himself into a spinning somersault, lunging at Emerald and Cinder. They dove out of the way, separating. Cinder tried to disengage, searching for Sky, but Russel targeted her specifically, forcing her back and away from the rest of the combatants. Cinder parried his attacks, noting the ice that was forming on her blades as his Dust-enhanced weapons struck them. With a moment’s thought, she activated her Semblance, melting the ice before it could slow her down.

            Sky and Dove charged Neo, brandishing their weapons. She rolled forward, avoiding their strikes, coming into Cardin’s reach. His mace caught Neo a glancing blow, sending her stumbling away, towards Mercury. He darted past her, engaging Sky and Dove. Sky stabbed with his halberd, trying to keep Mercury at a distance, but he leapt over the attack, slamming into his opponent.

            Russel and Cinder continued their duel, Russel doing his best to keep away from Emerald. The huntress circled the combatants, looking for an opportunity to intervene. Emerald reached out, touching his mind. Russel stumbled, fumbling his strike. It was all the opening Cinder needed to strike him, following her attack with a blast of flame that sent him skidding back to the edge of the arena. He didn’t take a moment to recover, charging back towards Cinder immediately.

            “Go!” Emerald called, interposing herself between them and opening fire on Russel. Cinder nodded, turning to the rest of her team.

            Cardin smashed through Neo’s illusions, searching for the illusive Huntress. He swung his mace through another false Neo, striking Dove, on the other side of Neo’s mirage. The blow disoriented him, giving Mercury the perfect opening. He dropped to the ground, avoiding a swing from Sky’s halberd, and caught himself on his hands. Tensing like a spring, he pushed off from the ground, slamming both feet into Dove’s head and sending him flying backwards. He slammed into the edge of the arena with the distinctive buzzer indicating his Aura had fallen below safe levels.

            CRDL’s leader tried to strike Neo, but she ducked and dodged, weaving between his swings. He raised his mace for an overhead smash and she lunged forward, stabbing him in the belly with her blade. He recoiled, backing up and assuming a defensive posture. Neo’s grin remained in place, but it had grown much more strained as the exertions of the fight and her Semblance mounted. Cardin looked just as worn, standing stooped and breathing heavily.

            Cinder fired an explosive shot at Sky, following it up with a pair of standard arrows. “Help Emerald!” she called to Mercury, splitting her bow into blades and engaging Sky in melee. Mercury glanced over Cinder’s shoulder, called “She’s fine!” and took off after Cardin.

            Mercury charged Cardin from behind, boots striking sparks off the arena floor. Cardin whirled, slamming his mace into Mercury’s midsection and knocking him back the way he came.

            Sky was no great fighter. Cinder knocked his polearm out of the way, struck him half a dozen times, parried his return strike, and delivered another blow that took him out of the fight. Mercury bounced past her, stumbled back to his feet, and charged back into the fray. “Mercury!” Cinder yelled, but he ignored her.

            Russel slashed at Emerald, trying to wear through her defenses with sheer force and persistence. She gave ground, remaining just out of reach of his strikes. Emerald activated her Semblance again, showing herself dodging left while she circled to the right. He spun obligingly, tracking the illusion, and she swung her sickle into his side. Russel dropped with a cry, losing his grip on one of his shortswords. Emerald stepped forward to finish him off. As she did so, he fumbled a new Dust setting active on his sword and slammed it into the ground. An explosion rippled outward, knocking her off her feet.

            Cardin laughed as Mercury attacked him again. Eschewing fancy techniques, Mercury launched a kick at Cardin’s face. The bulky Hunter didn’t bother blocking, taking the blow on his Aura and slamming his mace into Mercury’s side. Mercury buckled, collapsing to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, Cardin saw Dove hurrying to his side. “Finished with the runt?” Cardin asked. “Hold off the others. I’ll finish up here.” Dove nodded, then lunged forward, striking Cardin’s least armored spots with uncanny precision. Cardin roared, slamming his mace into the ground. Dove dodged the strike, but not the shockwave, which all but depleted Neo’s drained Aura and sent her flying away, dispelling her illusion. A buzzer accompanied her landing.

            Russel didn’t bother to retrieve his second sword, rushing Emerald at top speed. His sword glowed a dull red as he activated another type of Dust. Emerald got to her feet, trying to shake off the disorientation of the blast and readying herself for melee. As Russel closed the distance, a Dust-enhanced arrow struck him in the back, sending him crashing to the ground. Emerald delivered a swift kick to his midsection, dropping his Aura into the red and setting off another buzzer. Cinder motioned her forward, and they advanced on the one remaining member of CRDL.

            Mercury forced himself to his feet and fired a blast from his greaves at Cardin. The Hunter moved with surprising speed, intercepting the shot with his mace and barreling into Mercury, shoulder first. Mercury landed on his belly, Aura almost depleted. Ignoring the strain, he rose to his hands and knees, fighting to clear his head. Before he could, Cardin’s mace slammed into his shins, emptying his Aura.

            Cinder launched a volley of arrows at Cardin, attracting his attention. The brute charged her, ignoring her attacks. His Aura was faltering, but she wasn’t willing to expend still more Dust on this skirmish and finish him off. Cardin swung his mace in a devastating overhand strike, which Cinder stepped into, parrying the blow with both her blades, locking their weapons together. He grinned, leaning into the struggle and forcing her weapons downward. “This is the part,” he whispered, “where you-“

            Emerald slammed her sickles into his back, putting all her weight behind the strike. Cinder had a wonderful moment to savor Cardin’s astonished expression before he slumped forward, Aura drained. The buzzer sounded one final time. The lights brightened.

            “Congratulations, team Crimson,” Glynda said, stepping back into the arena. “See to your teammates, and return to the stands when ready.”

            Cinder allowed herself to relax, slumping and lowering her blades. Across Cardin’s prone form, Emerald was grinning broadly.

            “Good work.” Cinder said, scanning the arena for Neo and Mercury.

            “You too,” Emerald replied, then hurried to help Neo, who was rising to her feet.

            Mercury had sat up, but was making no move to get to his feet. His pants were torn and ripped from the knees down where jagged shards of his prosthetics and the floor had ripped through. Cardin's last blow had broken through his Aura and retained enough power to mangle his legs. One foot hung limply, and the other ground and squealed when he moved it. Cinder wondered what would have happened if he'd had flesh and blood there, instead of metal and plastic. She pushed the thought away. Hunters were injured all the time. Beacon's medical facilities would be nothing less than top-notch.

            “Can you stand?” Cinder asked, clearing the lingering unease from her mind.

            Mercury glanced up at her. “I’ll manage,” he said, suiting action to words and rising to his feet. He wobbled, almost falling, but Cinder stepped in and grabbed his arm, stabilizing him.

            “…Thanks.”

 

            A dozen meters away, Neo leaned on her umbrella, watching the two of them limp out of the arena, Cinder still supporting Mercury.

            “Feel good to get that out of your system?” Emerald asked, approaching her.

            Neo nodded. She’d be sore for a week, but the itching, burning anger had faded. _Insult my uncle again, Cardin. I dare you._

            “How do you think she did it?” Emerald asked. “Cardin couldn’t wait to challenge us.”

            Neo shrugged, heading towards the exit. Emerald followed. “Y’know… I could get used to this. It’s not as hard as I thought. I really think I could do this.”

            Neo glanced at her. Emerald was behind Cinder in learning sign language, but she had the letters down. Neo signed, _What changed?_

Emerald smiled. “I got a good team.”

            Neo found herself nodding in agreement. The two of them reached the exit and found their partners. Mercury was sitting on a bench, cursing under his breath as he inspected the damage to his legs. Cinder sat nearby, inspecting her remaining arrows. She glanced up as they entered.

            “You’re both uninjured?” She asked.

            Neo nodded. _Cinder- thanks._

She smiled. “My pleasure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's Chapter Eight! CMSN's still got a ways to go, but they're making progress. It was fun, doing another large fight scene. This one wasn't Nevermore-grade, but we'll get there. In the meantime, enjoy the chapter, and I will see you next week for Chapter Nine: Fracture. Until next time!


	13. Volume One, Chapter Nine: Fracture

Volume One, Chapter Nine: Fracture

 

            Mercury cursed quietly and creatively, maintaining a steady stream of invectives and libel about his prosthetics, Cardin, and maces in general. Emerald’s eyebrows steadily climbed as he maintained his stream of profanity without once repeating himself. On the other side of the locker room, Neo appeared to be taking notes. Mercury pulled his sash up and unclipped a pouch from beneath it. After a quick rummage, he produced a pair of pliers and bent to his leg again, to be greeted with a spray of sparks from his prosthetic. He paused for a moment, flummoxed, then launched into a rapid-fire tirade in another language, filled with harsh, guttural consonants.

            “Not going well?” Cinder asked.

            “I can fix it.” Mercury said. “It’ll just take time.”

            “How much?”

            Mercury pushed himself to his feet and wobbled to his locker. Opening it, he withdrew a well-wrapped bundle. He sat heavily on a nearby bench and unwrapped it, revealing another pair of prosthetic legs. The design was similar, but the undamaged set was much older. In places, it appeared almost cobbled together from spare parts. Crude spot-welds and patches dotted its surface. Despite this, the firing mechanism and clip built into the greaves were almost identical to his current version. They showed signs of recent maintenance and upgrading.

            Producing a specialized tool from his belt, Mercury detached his legs from his damaged prosthetics and replaced them with his new pair. His teammates averted their eyes as he did so. He attached the prosthetics and rose to his feet smoothly, bouncing a little on his ankles to test the balance. His legs emitted a faint mechanical whirr as he did so, but otherwise performed as before.

            “Not much time at all,” Mercury said, wrapping up his damaged prosthetics, “I can have my main set working again in a few days. Less, actually, with all the equipment Beacon’s got.”

            “Great!” Emerald said, “Nice work, everyone.”

            _We deserve a celebration,_ Neo signed.

            “What do you have in mind?” Cinder asked.

            _We should visit Vale. There’s plenty to do there. I’ve been meaning to pick up some Dust, I’m sure we could all use some extra._

            “I just get mine from Beacon’s armory,” Mercury said. “They won’t give you an unlimited supply, but I have enough.”

            Cinder rolled her eyes. “All they provide us first-years is low-quality detritus.”

            “Hey, it works for me!”

            “Anyway,” Emerald interjected, “That sounds like fun. I’m done with classes by two, how about you?”

            “Ditto.”

            _One o’clock_.

            “Four-thirty.”

            Emerald whistled. “Remind me, Cinder, how many classes are you taking? Seems like you’re always working on one project or another.”

            “I keep myself busy,” Cinder said. “Shall we meet by the Bullheads at four, then?”

            “Sounds good,” Mercury said. “C’mon, we should get back to the class before Goodwitch comes looking for us.”

 

            Vale was a fifteen minute flight from Beacon with conventional transportation. “Conventional transportation”, in this case, being last-generation Bullheads. The transports were capable of flying faster, but Vale’s stringent air traffic regulations prohibited full throttle over populated areas. At the speed they were moving, Cinder could have balanced on the roof without trouble. Nevertheless, Cinder felt, it was poor form for Neo to dangle herself out of the aircraft by her umbrella.

            It was hard to object, though, when she saw the grin on Neo’s face. Her partner had been in a good mood ever since their fight with Team Cardinal. A strong gust of wind buffeted the Bullhead, but Neo shifted her feet on the lip of the exit, pushing herself more in line with the aircraft. Her umbrella barely shifted on the handrail she’d hooked it to.

            With a grind of mechanisms, the opposite side of the Bullhead slid open. Emerald stepped away from the access panel, running the chain of her weapon through her hands. She wrapped it around the door’s handrail, giving it an experimental tug. Cinder caught her gaze, raising her eyebrow. _Et tu, Emerald?_

            Emerald smiled and shrugged. She leaned back and kept leaning, letting links of chain play through her fingers until she hung upside-down from the chain, keeping her feet on the Bullhead for additional support. She’d been cheerful after their battle as well.

            Cinder turned to their fourth member, who’d remained quiet throughout the flight. She’d been contemplating how to begin a conversation with Mercury ever since their match, and was still unsure. Strictly speaking, it would be more accurate to say that she doubted her methods. A week ago, she would have rebuked him for his insubordination, and she still wanted to. Her conversation with Glynda still lingered in her thoughts, though. She would try a more subtle approach.

            Emerald pulled herself back into the Bullhead, eyes shining and hair windswept and tangled. She grinned as she untangled her chain from the handrail. “Wow! That was fun,” she laughed. “Want to try it?”

            “I’ll pass,” Cinder said.

            Mercury shook his head and returned to staring out the Bullhead. Neo pulled herself back inside, stretching and grinning widely.

            “Now that we’re getting close,” Cinder began, “Let’s discuss where we’ll go.”

 _I know a few good restaurants around here,_ Neo signed.

            “Maybe a little later? It’s still afternoon.” Emerald said. “How about a Dust store? You mentioned you wanted to pick some stuff up, and they can close early.”

            “Sounds good to me.” Mercury said, standing up. “Got a store in mind?”

            “Dust to Dust’s supposed to have a pretty good selection.”

            Cinder carefully didn’t react to the name. She considered objecting, but Emerald was right – the store did have an impressive selection of Dust. Returning to the scene of her crime did give her pause, but she’d been careful. Nothing would connect her to the burglary.

            “Dust to Dust it is, then.”

            The Bullhead touched down and the students disembarked. Emerald took the lead, heading towards the commercial district. Behind the team, a man in red sunglasses lowered his newspaper and opened his scroll.

            “Sir. You’re never going to believe who I just saw…”

 

            Cinder’s fears were unfounded. They arrived at Dust to Dust to find the store open for business, with no sign of police or other law enforcement. The owner was congenial and happy to answer their questions about the precise properties of different varieties of Dust. She felt a vague twinge of conscience when she saw the owner, but she was sure he’d insured his stock. As soon as she could, she resolved, she would begin paying for her resources. For now, though, she admired an impressive flame Dust crystal, as big as her fist and perfectly cut and polished.

            She glanced over her shoulder, checking on her teammates. Emerald and Mercury were standing together, discussing a case of powdered Dust. A store like this, specializing in crystal and powdered Dust, was of less interest to them, but they could manufacture Dust rounds out of their purchases here with some work. Neo was deep in conversation with the store’s owner, pushing a pad of paper back and forth across the counter to communicate.

            Mercury’s scroll chimed. He sighed, removing it from a pocket, and glanced at the screen. He frowned, said something to Emerald, and stepped out of the store to take the call. Cinder stepped away from the display and followed.

           

            Mercury stepped into a nearby alley before accepting the call. “I told you not to call me again. I quit.”

            “And yet, you’re back in Vale with a sleazy crowd.” Hei Xiong replied. “One of them’s a thief who’s supposed to be dead. Another beat up a bar full of workers. Are you just enjoying one another’s company?”

            “I’m not doing freelance work anymore. That’s all you need to worry about.”

            “We can help each other, you know. Can your new friends pull their weight?”

            He snorted. “They could kick your ass, if that’s what you’re asking. They’re not looking for work, and neither am I. Find yourself another legbreaker.”

            “Mercury-“

            He hung up. Sighed. Leaned back against the wall of the alleyway.

            “Who was that?” Cinder asked.

            Mercury jumped to his feet, spinning to face her. She stood at the mouth of the alley, regarding him.

            “No-one important,” Mercury lied. “What’s up?”

            “You disobeyed orders today. It could have cost us the battle, and it did damage your legs. I would say, ‘let that be a lesson’, but I’m beginning to doubt that will be sufficient, Mercury,” Cinder began, approaching him.

            He grit his teeth, keeping his expression calm.

            “We won, didn’t we?” he asked. His ankles throbbed, the phantom ache spreading upwards.

            “Barely. You aren’t the right choice to fight Cardin-I picked Neo for a reason. If you’d helped Emerald, as I asked, we would have had a much cleaner victory.”

            Mercury drew in a breath. Losing his temper wouldn’t help. “I made a call. Emerald looked like she could handle things. Neo looked like she could use some help.”

            “ _I_ made a call, Mercury. What happened to following my lead?”

            “I had things under control-“ he began, but Cinder cut him off, sharp as a knife:

            “Not even remotely. You heard my order. For that matter,” she continued, hitting on a new idea, “You’re smart enough to know it was the right call. Why’d you disobey me, then? Were you just trying to be contrary?”

            “Fine, you got me.” Mercury interjected, trying to steer her away from this topic. “I just wanted to land a hit on Cardin. He pissed me off, too.”

            Mercury looked up and met her eyes. She scrutinized him, amber eyes dissecting his bluff. He dropped her gaze.

            “You steal food off plates, you needle and you ignore orders, you deliberately make mistakes. You’re not trying to sabotage the team, though. You reassured Emerald before the fight today and you worked with us in the Emerald Forest. Why, then…” she trailed off, letting the question hang in the air between them.

“We should get going – people will talk.” Mercury said, trying to step around her.

            Cinder mirrored his movements, staying in his way. A smile spread across her face; the same one she’d worn when Emerald brought Cardin down, the same one she’d worn when they killed the Nevermore.

            “Mercury Black,” she asked, “What is your issue with authority?”

            “I don’t have one,” he lied.

            “Mercury. This is about the team. I need to know why you aren’t working with me, and you are going to tell me. I am not giving you a choice in the matter.”

            “Hey, everything all right?”

            Emerald stepped into the alley, Neo following behind with a case of Dust. Cinder scowled, then sculpted her expression into a smile. “Just fine. What’s going on?”

            “We’ve made our purchases. Want to find a restaurant?”

            “…Sure. Let’s go, Mercury.” He wasn’t looking forward to this dinner. He opened his mouth to acquiesce, when inspiration struck.

            “Actually,” Mercury said, “I’ve been having some troubles with my prosthetics. I think they could use some maintenance, so I’ll head back to Beacon a little early and meet you there.”

            Cinder turned back to face him, searching for a way to stop him. He gave a small smile and shrug. _We’re not done_ , she mouthed.

            “That’s a shame,” Emerald said. “Well, good luck with the repairs!”

            “Thanks!” Mercury called, already backing away down the alley. He quickened his stride, reaching the other side in no time. He picked a direction and turned onto the street, walking away.

 

            He walked aimlessly, picking turns and paths at random. The sun was setting as he found himself in Vale’s train yard, on the city’s outskirts. Overland travel was dangerous at the best of times, but some companies, like the SDC, maintained a rail network connecting mines and cities. You couldn’t get from Vacuo to Vale, but you could cross most of a kingdom without much risk. He leaned against a building, watching a train depart and another arrive. “Running away again, huh?” Mercury muttered.

            Reaching a decision, he opened his scroll. Mercury paged through his contacts, locating Cinder. Prickles of pain shot up his legs, terminating in the shins he no longer had. After a moment of hesitation, he called her. She picked up almost immediately.

            “Mercury.”

            He swallowed and forged ahead.

            “I’ve been out of line lately.”

            There was no response.

            “I’ve got some bad history with leaders. I’ve been needling you, trying to get a reaction. I maintain that Neo should’ve kicked Cardin’s ass the first time they fought, though. Look, what I’m trying to say is that I haven’t been a good teammate, and I’ll try to fix that.”

            “…I see,” Cinder said. “All right. We can talk more about this in person. And Mercury?”

            “Yeah?”

            “Last time you assured me we could work together, you disobeyed my orders in our very next fight. Don’t do it again. Understand?”

            He sighed. “You got it, Boss.”

            “Good.”

            The call disconnected.

            Mercury tossed his scroll into the air and caught it, then turned and headed back towards Vale proper. The Bullheads ran until midnight. He’d have no trouble getting back.

            As he walked back, he tried to calm his pulse. It was one thing, knowing that these circumstances were different. It was another, acting on that knowledge. He cast a look back at the trains. It would be easy, hopping on a train and disappearing. He’d done it before. This time would be different.

            Lost in thought, it took him a minute to notice something was wrong. At this hour, in this part of town, seeing one of the Xiong family’s thugs on the street wasn’t uncommon. Seeing three of them was. They’d emerged from a side street and matched his pace for the last block. Scanning his surroundings, Mercury saw two more following him and another approaching from the front, the sunset reflected in his glasses.

            The street was almost empty. Pedestrians were few and far between in the industrial district. On the one hand, Mercury had worked with Junior’s men before. Not directly – he had no interest in joining organized crime – but one of the services the family provided was hired muscle, which he’d also dabbled in. Occasionally, he’d worked with some of their bruisers, safeguarding a client or finding a person. He was confident he had a little goodwill saved up. He trusted his instincts, though, and bolted for an alley.

            Behind him, he could hear yells of anger and surprise. He sprinted forward, taking a sharp left turn out of the alley and beelining for a side street. He ducked into it, no longer sprinting but still jogging at a good pace. Mercury glanced back over his shoulder. He couldn’t see their distinctive suits and sunglasses, and in the dying light he’d be hard to spot. Satisfied, he turned back around, ready to find the Bullheads.

            Blocking his way were a pair of Xiong thugs, axes in hand. Mercury sighed. He could beat them into submission and run, but he’d rather not alienate Vale’s major crime family, especially since he was going to be sticking around the city.

            “All right boys, you found me.” Mercury said. “What’s Junior want me so bad for?”

            “He’s got nothing to do with it. I’m borrowing his men.”

            A cube of ice dropped into Mercury’s belly.

            “I have to say, I never expected _this_. I expected you to be a continent away by now. I expected an entire fake identity, but you’re not even using a false name.” The voice continued, drawing closer.

            Despite the cold night, he was sweating, his heart pounding.

            “It never occurred to me to search for Mercury Black. Clever, I suppose. You lead me on a merry chase, but the game is over.”

            He tried to swallow. His mouth was dry.

            “Come on, Mercury. Look at me when I’m talking to you.”

             Remembered pains stabbed into his shins. He turned, slowly.

            “It’s good to see you again, Mercury,” said Marcus Black. “Hello, son.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Nine. I've been building up to this for a while. Keeping Marcus alive was just too good an opportunity to pass up. We'll get more details as to what happened instead of canon over the next few chapters. I'll see you all next week.  
> (I will add Marcus to the tags in a few days, but for now he'll be a surprise.)


	14. Volume One, Chapter Ten: Quicksilver

Volume One, Chapter Ten – Quicksilver

 

            He was six when his father began to train him. He didn’t know it at the time, of course, but looking back it was obvious. Walking became jogging became running. His toys were weapons – foam first, then wooden replicas, then plastic and steel. Marcus kept him busy, cycling swords out for spears, replacing those with daggers, then crossbows. Nothing less than mastery would satisfy.

 

            “Kill him.” Marcus said, stepping back. The Xiong thugs moved in. Two on one, and Mercury’s backup prosthetics were in poor repair at the best of times. Mercury kicked high, hitting the closer one in his chin. His head snapped back, putting a tremendous amount of strain on his neck. It wouldn’t break the vertebrae, but he’d think twice before getting up again. As the man dropped, Mercury snatched his axe out of the air and swung it into the second’s gun. The blow buried the axe blade in the barrel of the gun, knocking it away to point back out the alleyway. The thug pulled the trigger anyway and the gun misfired beautifully, almost exploding in his hand. He dropped to his knees, cradling his hand, and Mercury swung the ruined axe handle into his temple, knocking him out. The first thug tried to rise and Mercury kicked him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and sending him back to the ground.

 

            He was ten when his father began to spar with him. Marcus would demonstrate an attack, a technique, or a tactic, and Mercury would repeat it. If he failed, he would do it again. They would begin to spar, Mercury favoring his new trick. Marcus held back, of course, but never enough to altogether prevent injury. Bruises and cuts accumulated and faded and awoke again across the surface of his skin like the map to an undiscovered continent. This is what he remembers of those days: aching muscles, the smell of sweat, the grunts and pants of combat, the taste of blood. He learned, trained, improved. It was never good enough. For every stride he made, every new trick he mastered, three more were waiting to be learned. _“You’re like quicksilver,”_ he’d said. _“I shouldn’t be able to hit you.”_

 

            “You should have killed them.”

            Mercury tossed aside the remains of the axe and turned to his father.

            “You’ve gotten soft. I’m disappointed in you.”

            Anger, sudden and unexpected, flooded through him. “What else is new?” Mercury spat, knowing he’s making things worse.

 

            He was thirteen when his father had his first serious fight with him. He doesn’t remember what it was about, now, just its severity. He remembers screaming at his father, his father screaming back, red-faced and furious, alcohol on his breath. Marcus brought him to their sparring ring. That day, he hadn’t held back.

 

            More Xiong troops flooded into the alleyway behind Marcus, brandishing axes, blades, and guns. There were a half-dozen of them, each with a weapon trained on him. Mercury ignored them.

            “You betrayed me,” Marcus said, “You failed me. Everything I taught you – discarded. Why’re you in Vale, squatting next to a Hunter academy? Have you learned nothing?”

            Mercury sized up escape routes. The alley behind him should be clear, but he knew better than to turn his back on his father. Going through him is impossible. The walls are too high to climb.

            “I came here to find you and bring you back. Figured I’d taught you enough of a lesson, after last time. Seeing this? I don’t think I was nearly firm enough!” Marcus bellowed, striding forwards.

            Mercury retreated, trying to remember the obstacles littering the alley without looking. Bringing up the rear, behind Marcus, are Junior’s men. Not one of them has thought to flank him. Either they’re dumber than they look, or Marcus ordered them to hang back. Either one works. _Screw it_ , he thought, _I want to live_ , and lunged for his father as he drew breath to say something else.

 

            He was fifteen when his father took him on his first job. That was how he insisted on referring to it – a “job”.

            “Think of him as just another Grimm,” he’d said, “Your target isn’t a person. They’re an obstacle.”  
            Mercury adjusted the crossbow – he’d never liked the things, but getting up close wasn’t possible, not with the crowd milling about – and took aim.

            “Take the shot,” Marcus said.

            He did.

           

            Marcus leaned back, shifting his weight to his back foot and planting his front foot in Mercury’s chest. His Aura took the brunt of the blow, canceling his momentum, but the sudden stop still rattled his teeth. Marcus kicked, sending Mercury sprawling to the ground. He tumbled and skidded, coming to a stop three meters back. He’d expected that, though, and he had his scroll in hand before he hit the ground. As he rolled, he stabbed the _Call most recent_ button, and brought the device to his ear as he came to a halt.

            Mercury garbled: “Help me! Industrial district-“ and that’s as far as he got before seeing motion in the corner of his eye. He threw himself back to the ground as Marcus’ left leg swiped through where his head was, moments before. His boot’s blades were extended: two pairs of razor-sharp knives, sliding out in line with his foot and his leg.

            For a second, he thought he’d made it, and then he saw his scroll fall apart, sliced into three pieces. Mercury rolled out of the way of Marcus’s followup strike that buried his heel in the alley floor, jumping back to his feet. Marcus’ blades slid back into his left boot, vanishing into sheathes alongside his ankle and foot.

 

            He was sixteen when he tried to kill his father. The seeds were growing for years, but he’d only begun to plan it in the past few months. He’d paced the halls of their home a dozen times, determining the best time and place to ambush him. He pushed himself harder than he’d ever done before in training, uncovering a well of resolve he didn’t know he had. In time, he pieced together a plan – an ambush at home, while Marcus was drunk, and a fight to the death. Mercury squirreled away weapons and ammunition where he might need them, walked the halls and rooms of their house until he could do so blind, and trained like never before.

            All his planning was forgotten when a target put up more of a fight than they’d expected. She’d escaped their ambush, firing accurate, powerful blasts from her shotgun as she sprinted for safety. They chased her for a dozen blocks. They’d had no choice but to hit her in broad daylight, and the screams of the civilians provided a counterpoint to the growing wail of sirens as the assassins closed in on their prey. Mercury split off from his father as the chase continued. Marcus drew her attention while he overtook the pair, hurrying to a large bridge spanning a train route out of the city. They’d discussed the possibility of needing to trap her if she ran and planned an ambush. Marcus drove her on, herding her towards Mercury’s ambush.

            By the time Mercury arrived on the bridge, it had been abandoned – civilians of any kingdom develop a finely-tuned sense of danger, and no doubt fled the area when the gunfire and sirens began. Mercury rolled under an abandoned car and waited.

            It didn’t take long for Marcus and his target to arrive. She was exhausted, clothes stained with sweat and blood. Marcus was tired, distracted, and almost out of ammunition. Mercury heard sirens in the distance and knew he’d never get a better chance. Instead of ambushing their target as she passed his hiding spot, he waited for Marcus to pass, then emerged from beneath the car. He kicked Marcus in the back of the knee and he dropped to the ground. Their target didn’t wait for an explanation, just ran, taking the opening Mercury had given her.

            Mercury tried to finish his father off, but even fatigued and wounded, he was quick. He grabbed Mercury’s leg as he tried to kick him and threw him to the ground, then rolled to his feet. Mercury hit the ground, tumbled, and came up in a fighting stance. The sirens were getting closer. Neither bothered with threats, demands for explanations, or anything else.

            Their fight was short and brutal. Mercury eschewed the precise strikes he’d trained with in favor of pummeling blows, trying to break through Marcus’ Aura as fast as possible. Marcus defended himself as best he could, but the strikes he got in were infrequent and weak. Mercury slammed an elbow into Marcus’ side, shattering his Aura. For a second, Mercury knew he’d won. He pivoted, throwing a punch that would all but take his head off. Marcus leaned back, grabbing Mercury’s arm and twisting him into an arm bar. Before Mercury could try to fight free, Marcus pressed the sole of his right boot to Mercury’s left shin and fired.

            The bullet tore through his Aura and his leg.  Marcus released Mercury, letting him collapse. Clinically, Marcus shot him through the other leg, then bent down and hauled him to his feet. He wrapped his hands around his neck, slamming him back against the railing. Mercury flailed, unable to free himself. As he dangled, suspended by his neck, the sirens mingled with the sound of an oncoming train, audible even over the roaring of blood in his ears. He caught sight of the police arriving – just one car. Not enough.

            The policemen were well-trained in dealing with Hunter-grade criminals. One called for backup as the other hurled a Dust-laced flashbang at the struggling pair. What seemed like a small lightning strike went off a meter away, stunning both of them. Distracted, Marcus slackened his grip. Mercury slipped through his fingers and toppled off the bridge as the train sped past below. He landed on the train as it hurtled by and was almost thrown off again, skidding across the cars. As he slid, he thrashed his arms, searching for a handhold. He fell into the gap between train cars and slammed into the far one. There he remained, sprawled against the train car, head swimming, heart pounding. By the time Marcus finished dealing with the police, Mercury was far away.

 

            “No calling for help! No running away! No one can save you! You’re mine, boy!”

            Mercury backpedaled, flaring his Aura. Marcus strode forward, boots clicking and ratcheting. As Mercury retreated, Marcus raised his right leg, bracing himself against the alley wall, and fired a staccato burst from his gun, which was likewise concealed in his boot, in line with his leg. The low-caliber rounds scattered against his remaining Aura, depleting his reserves. Mercury caught sight of a chimney on the edge of the alley’s roofs and snapped off a shot, feeling his Aura continue to dwindle as he did so. The shot connected, smashing the chimney’s base apart and dumping a mass of bricks and iron into the alleyway, almost on top of Marcus. The assassin recoiled, shielding his head. Coughing, he waved the dust away, revealing an empty alley.

            “Find him.” Marcus snapped.

 

            He was sixteen when his father tried to kill him. He remembers bits and pieces of the train ride, struggling to staunch his wounds with the scant medical supplies he always brought on jobs. His Aura was unable to deal with his grievous injuries, only slowing the blood loss. He bandaged, wrapped, and eventually stopped the bleeding. Exhausted, hurt, and afraid, he remained between train cars until the train arrived at its next destination: A larger city, near the kingdom of Mistral’s center.

            Mercury waited until he was within the city limits, and the train was slowing, before throwing himself from the train. He’d had a few hours to husband his Aura, helping him survive the fall. Getting noticed by the authorities would raise too many questions, so he paid a vagrant to take him to a street doctor his father had mentioned. By the time he arrived, he wasn’t that surprised to hear he’d need to lose his legs. Mercury bought his silence, received treatment, and limped out on scavenged peg-legs as soon as he could.

 

            Mercury ran. There wasn’t much else he could do. There were half a dozen thugs after him, though, and they knew how to hunt. He turned a corner, sighted one pursuing him, and hightailed it in the opposite direction. After a few moments, two more emerged from a side street ahead of him. He skidded to a halt, bolting off the street. Mercury had been moving from the up-and-running part of the industrial district into construction sites and half-finished warehouses. He hurdled a fence, landed in an empty lot, and sprinted for the other side. Two Xiong enforcers cut him off: he charged through them, bowling them over with speed and Aura, not a weapon. Stopping to incapacitate them was tempting, but he couldn’t afford to slow down and let Marcus catch up.

            As he reached the fence, a third thug vaulted it, landing in his path and drawing his blade. Mercury lunged forward, leading with his legs. The blade deflected off his prosthetics as he smashed into the henchman’s chest, sending him flying backwards through the fence. Mercury took off through the hole with the remaining five henchmen in hot pursuit.

            They continued the chase deeper into the construction site. His lungs were beginning to burn – he couldn’t keep evading and hope to lose them. Hoping his father was too far behind to catch up, he sprinted for an excavator, throwing everything he could into the sprint. He reached the vehicle and ran up the shovel arm, feet finding purchase amongst the hydraulics and metal plating. As he reached the top of the arm, he pushed himself off, flipping backwards towards his pursuers. He fired a burst of shots from his greaves, striking the ground around Marcus’ thugs and kicking up blinding clouds of dirt.

            Mercury landed in their midst, eyes closed against the stinging dirt and grit. He slammed his knee into the closet’s chin, letting his momentum carry him towards two more. Mercury flipped in midair, leading with his feet. They hadn’t moved since he kicked up the dust cloud, and his greaves slammed into their shoulders. Mercury scissored his legs closed, slamming their heads together. He landed on his hands, backflipped towards the last two thugs standing, and slammed into one, sending her flying into her partner. As the dust cleared, he took off running, hoping he was still headed away from Marcus.

 

_“You’re quicksilver,”_ Marcus had said. _“I shouldn’t be able to hit you.”_ Mercury set out to prove him right. Building proper legs took months and all the money he could earn. He ended up starting from Marcus’ weapons, reworking them for his own use. Before, he’d favored his legs, but contented himself with boot knives and guns, what his father still used. Now, he built bigger. It was amazing how much more power he could pack into a weapon when he didn’t have to worry about keeping it small enough to hide in a boot. His legs were his weapons.

            Finding work was never difficult. Every city he moved to had someone willing to pay him. He refused to murder, accepting smaller jobs. Intimidation, bodyguarding, muscle. Whatever paid for a new ankle joint, a better trigger mechanism, a place to spend the night.

 

            Mercury hopped another fence, leaving the earthworks behind for a half-finished building, all rebar, scaffolding, and I-beams. It looked like it was going to be some company’s fancy new property, full of skeletons of what might become warehouses, workshops, or something else entirely. On the other side of the property, what might be the front, a building spiked up into the sky. In a year, it might be a cubicle farm, but for now its structure was buried under tarps and scaffolds. What made his heart leap, however, were the silhouettes halfway up, standing out against the weak twilight. Two of them were all but invisible, but the third’s white jacket caught what remained of the sunlight well.

            Moving as quick and quiet as possible, Mercury threaded his way through the construction site, throwing occasional glances back over his shoulder. His father failed to materialize, but Mercury never stopped checking. When he reached the scaffolding enfolding the building his team had climbed, he launched himself at it, landing on the second floor and pushing off again. He climbed the remaining two floors in two bounds and landed on the fourth.

            His team trained their weapons on him for the moment it took to identify him, then relaxed. Emerald hurried forward, examining him as best she could in the dim light.

            “Mercury! What’s going on?” she hissed.

            “Really not the time. I’ll tell you later, but we need to go,” Mercury panted. He glanced back at the silent construction yard, still searching for any sign of his father.

            “Is this the kind of problem that would be helped by calling the police?” Cinder interjected.

            “Not unless they can deal with Hunters.” Mercury replied. Marcus wasn’t one, of course, but he was in their weight class.

            Cinder nodded. “Let’s get out of-“

            The building shook. Everyone kept their balance, but the floor acquired a distinct rightward tilt. With a grinding crunch, the tilt’s angle tripled.

            “Move!” Cinder snapped, and they sprinted towards the edge of the building as it gave up the fight with gravity.

 

            When he was eighteen, he became a Hunter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Evening folks! This chapter's longer than usual, and it would have been longer still if I hadn't decided to keep the POV on Mercury. You'll have to wait until next chapter to see how the rest of CMSN got to the industrial district, as well as the big showdown. Unfortunately, you won't get the next chapter until Sunday. For scheduling reasons, I'll be posting updates on Sunday, not Saturday, from now on. I'll see you next time.


	15. Volume One, Chapter Eleven: Showdown

Volume One, Chapter Eleven: Showdown

 

            It wasn’t hard to tell that Cinder was fuming about something. All her smooth, self-assured confidence evaporated when circumstances turned against her. It happened when confronting her team and it was happening now. Emerald didn’t need her Aura to fool someone – she’d had plenty of practice lying with her whole body, playing poker in dozens of back rooms and conning people out of fistfuls of Lien. Cinder didn’t come close.

            Neo, to Emerald’s left, didn’t notice, too busy demolishing her plate of noodles. She ate with speed and skill, chopsticks moving with surgical precision. The Simple Wok Noodle House delivered cheap noodles quickly and in large quantities, making it one of Emerald’s favorite haunts.

            To Emerald’s right, Cinder sat back on her stool, posture perfect. Occasionally, she swirled her chopsticks around the plate, picking up another mouthful of food. She would have been the picture of calm if not for the fact that her glass of water, held in her other hand, was steaming.

            After leaving the Dust shop, with Mercury’s unimpressive excuse to split up from the rest of their team, it wasn’t too hard to guess what had Cinder so annoyed.

            “Mercury still giving you trouble?” Emerald asked.

            Cinder frowned. “How did you-“

            “Trade secret. Incidentally, we should play poker sometime.”

            “I should be able to handle it.” Cinder said, returning to picking at her meal.

            “Hey, I’m his partner. I should be doing _something_ to help you rein the punk in.”

             Cinder nodded. “All right. That would be… appreciated.”

            Emerald raised an eyebrow, but decided not to press Cinder further. She turned back to her own dinner and tucked in, contemplating how to approach Mercury.

 

            They were halfway back to the Bullheads, the setting sun stretching their shadows out before them, when Emerald asked Cinder what time it was. She pulled out her scroll to check. That was the only reason the call connected. As soon as Mercury called, Cinder accepted it, putting it on speakerphone. She drew breath for a barbed comment to their wayward member, but never got the chance.

            “Help me!” Mercury gasped, “Industrial District-“

            The call cut off.

            “Oh, _piss._ ” Emerald spat, then started running.

            She made it three blocks before Cinder caught up with her. “You’re sure he’s not faking?” she asked.

            Emerald ran faster.

            “Damn,” Cinder muttered, and followed with Neo hot on her heels.

 

            Vale was a big city – the Industrial District was a long way off. Emerald focused her Aura, forcing fresh strength into her legs, and sprinted onwards. She knew, with deep, cold, certainty, she wouldn’t make it in time to help. She hadn’t been in time to help Alec, or Tara, or Barb. John just vanished one day – she never found out what happened to him. Beacon was supposed to be a fresh start, separated from her past. She’d thought it was, but trainee Hunters didn’t run into trouble in the middle of a big city. No one had any reason to target Mercury the Hunter. Mercury the enforcer, though? Stealing from the wrong person had gotten some of her contacts and friends killed. What would harming the wrong person do? She hurdled a fence and ran on.

 

            Emerald outpaced Cinder with little difficulty. Neo passed her as well, but held back enough to ensure Cinder never lost sight of her. They made it to the industrial district in mere minutes, and it was only then that Emerald slowed, unsure where to go next.

            Spying a half-finished building, she hurried over and threw her sickle at the scaffolding surrounding it. The chain wrapped around a support and held fast. Emerald climbed it with long-practiced ease, and her teammates followed. They ascended three floors to the fourth and stepped out onto bare concrete. The building was a bare-bones affair, with nothing installed except the floors and supports. Combined with its small footprint, the scaffolding surrounding it seemed more stable than the structure itself. Emerald retrieved her sickle and hurried to the far edge of the building, searching for anything out of the ordinary.

            Cinder and Neo joined her, stepping around toolboxes and assorted detritus of construction.

            “Anything?” Cinder asked.

            Emerald shook her head. “The district’s a big place, and we’re out of daylight. I can’t see a thing.”

            Cinder sighed. “We’re not giving up. If he’s in trouble, it’s got to have attracted attention. Let’s-“

            Neo cut her off, stabbing a finger at the scaffolding before them. It clanked and groaned, then a figure launched itself onto the fourth floor. In the fading twilight, it took a moment to recognize Mercury, clothes disheveled and out of breath.

 

            Following his son had been simplicity itself. The boy had talents, but stealth wasn’t one of them. Infuriatingly, he left all of Xiong’s men alive. Whether it was a genuine, new-found aversion to killing or more proof of his stubborn nature no longer mattered. Nothing would be gained from him, save the satisfaction of his death. He let him have his fun first – let him try to escape.

            When he fled to the construction yard, though, he couldn’t delay any longer. Further reinforcements could complicate matters. As Mercury ascended the building, Marcus reached the ground floor, and the supports. Two swipes of his leg cut a chunk out of the corner support, one of the main load-bearing points. He sprinted to an adjacent corner, cutting supports as he went, and slammed into it feetfirst. The building quaked, shuddered, and dipped, weakened supports snapping as the corner supports dropped through empty space to slam into their severed lower halves.

            Marcus ran for safety as the supports gave way, tilting the building still further. He threw himself out of the collapsing building’s footprint as it came crashing down. Shielding his eyes from the cloud of stinging dust kicked up by the building’s collapse, he scanned the rubble for his son. To his surprise, all the figures he’d seen in the building were picking themselves out of the rubble. By the street, a girl in green and brown pulled his son to his feet. On the other side of the collapsed building, he heard the distinctive sound of weapons being drawn. Finally, another girl in white and brown drifted into view above him, suspended by her umbrella.

            Wasting no time, Marcus leapt into the air, blades sliding out of the toe of his left leg and slashing across her throat. To his surprise, the attack was deflected inches from her skin, doing no harm. She furled her umbrella, dropping several feet to the ground in a ready stance. A Huntress, then? Likely, this close to Beacon. A trainee, given her age. Not a problem. Marcus let the momentum from his strike push him back towards what remained of the building, firing a shot for additional momentum. He landed on a jutting spur of concrete and pushed off again, emerging from the cloud of dust and crashing into her, knocking her to the ground. She rolled, drawing a blade from her umbrella as she did so, then disappearing in a flash of light.

            Neo reappeared behind Marcus, stabbing forwards in a perfect lunge. He moved almost too fast to follow, spinning and bringing his leg up in a kick that deflected her thrust harmlessly past his ear. She pirouetted, bringing her blade around to strike at his neck, but he followed her spin, staying behind her. Neo jabbed backwards with her umbrella, leading with the handle to hook and trip him, but he caught it and pulled, slamming his boot into her back at the same time. She was knocked away, keeping hold of her blade but not her umbrella.

            As her fingers lost their grip, she blinked above him, slashing at his head and neck. The first one connected, then he ducked below the next. She wound up for a third, when he wrapped her umbrella’s handle around her neck and slammed her to the ground. The force of the blow rattled her teeth and disoriented her, even through her Aura. She offered little resistance as he pulled her to her feet.

           

            Emerald pulled Mercury to his feet, waving away clouds of dust. She was scanning the area for any signs of attack, straining her eyes peering into the darkness. He stumbled, keeping his feet only with difficulty. His fight with Marcus took a lot out of him.

            “You alright?” Mercury panted.

            “Peachy.” Emerald replied. “What’s going on?”

            “We’re being hunted. We need to find Cinder and Neo, then get away.”

            Inside the construction yard, a shot rang out. Emerald and Mercury exchanged a glance, then hurried back into the rubble. They crested a mound of concrete and rebar, sighting Marcus and Neo. The assassin spun to face them, pulling Neo’s blade from her hand and holding it to her neck. Mercury and Emerald stopped dead.

            “What’re you doing, Mercury?” Marcus called. “What’s it matter if I have a hostage? Come and get me!”

            They didn’t move. He spat, then retreated, dragging Neo with him. She shook her head, eyes refocusing as they began to move. Neo caught Mercury’s eye through the dying twilight, giving him a miniscule nod. Emerald and Mercury followed, keeping their distance. They passed where Marcus captured Neo, and Mercury retrieved her umbrella, carrying it with him. As Marcus approached the other in-progress buildings – squat, long windowless structures – Emerald stiffened, then nudged Mercury, taking care not to alert Marcus.

            The light was almost gone, but Mercury could make out Cinder’s silhouette atop the structure Marcus was pulling Neo towards. She drew her bow, but hesitated, trying to get a clear shot. After a moment, she eased off on the draw and retreated back across the rooftop.

            Marcus reached the doors into the building. Without looking, he snapped his foot back, kicking the door open. He hauled Neo inside and the two disappeared from view. Emerald and Mercury hurried to the doors and peered into the gloom.

            “I don’t suppose you’ve got a better plan than just storming in?” Emerald asked.

           

            Marcus pulled Neo into the building, keeping her blade to her throat. She kept her Aura high, waiting for an opportunity. She was recovered enough to teleport, but her captor had preternaturally fast reflexes, even for a Huntsman. There was no point in tipping her hand early, and with the right timing, she could do more than just escape. They moved through two more doors before Marcus stopped her, keeping his blade to her throat.

            “Tell me everything about the other members of your group – I know there’s at least two, besides you and Mercury. Weapons. Semblances. Tactics.”

            Neo didn’t respond. While he talked, she opened the pouch at her side, careful to make no noise.

            “Last chance-“ Marcus began, and Neo grabbed the fire Dust crystal she’d purchased earlier that day.

            As Marcus drew Neo’s blade across her throat, she teleported out of his grasp, leaving a blast of fire behind her – her Semblance boosted and altered by the Dust. Illuminated by the fire, Mercury and Emerald charged through the doors, Mercury tossing Neo her umbrella and Emerald opening fire. Marcus dove for cover, landing behind a heavy wooden crate. Neo caught her umbrella by the point and willed an illusion wall into being around the crate, consuming more fire Dust and igniting the area.

            Marcus charged through the fire towards the Hunters, still wielding Neo’s blade. He kicked Emerald into Neo, then slashed down at Mercury, who kicked up, meeting the strike with his boot. Marcus slammed his own boot into Mercury’s torso and emptied his clip, sending Mercury collapsing to the floor. Emerald recovered and charged Marcus, sickles out. He spun to face her, still on one foot, and slammed his heel into the ground. The shockwave unbalanced her, letting him throw her through the doors further into the building.

            Marcus turned back to Mercury. Clutching his chest, Mercury tried to rise. Marcus flung Neo’s blade, impaling his winged-boot sash and pinning him to the ground. With the last of her Dust, Neo conjured another wall of fire between Marcus and Mercury, then took up guard over Mercury. Marcus halted, considering his options, then left, moving deeper into the building. Neo hauled Mercury to his feet. The way forward was cut off – the flames were growing, blocking the door. With no other option, Neo helped Mercury back the way they came.

            The assassin strode deeper into the building, hearing the flames crackle behind him. Marcus passed through another small, empty room, taking a moment to reload his boot gun, before emerging into a much larger space. The glow of the flames cast dim, flickering light into the room, revealing half-installed conveyor belts and industrial tools. Marcus entered, keeping a careful lookout for Mercury’s other associates.

            Emerald watched him enter from her perch on the ceiling, sickles embedded in the roof. As he approached the floor below her hiding spot, she exerted her Semblance, worming her way into his mind. He saw Cinder emerge from the shadows before him and strike, blades flashing in the unsteady light. As she created the illusion, she pulled her sickle free and dropped down, slamming her blades into his exposed back.

            Marcus yelled, dropping to the ground. He caught himself with his hands, bunched his legs, and kicked backwards. Emerald only just managed to dodge to the left, dissolving her old illusion and creating a new one of her dodging right at the same time. He struck at her illusion to no effect, and she slashed him across the back again. He recoiled, collapsing to the ground. Emerald created another illusion. Her double retreated, drawing pistols and opening fire. At the same time, she lunged forward, sickles raised.

            He rolled to the side, letting her sickles embed themselves in the ground. He rolled back, slamming his elbow into her head, then grabbing a handful of her chains and wrapping them around her neck. He tightened his grip, cutting off her air.

            Struggling to pull the chains free, Emerald refocused her efforts, pushing her Semblance harder. She created a dozen attackers who charged Marcus from all angles. He didn’t so much as flinch. As he continued to strangle her, she twisted her head, catching a glimpse of his face. He’d closed his eyes.

            “Nice trick.” Marcus said, pulling the chains tighter.

            A white-hot arrow slammed into his chest and he reeled backwards, dropping her chains. A white field shimmered around his body for a moment, then failed.

            “Here’s another.” Cinder said, nocking an arrow from the far doorway and heating it in preparation for her shot.

            Marcus threw himself over a conveyor belt, vaulted another, and slid under a third. Cinder held her fire, unwilling to chance a shot on such an erratic target. As he slid, Marcus fired a burst of gunfire from his boot, striking the ceiling above Cinder. Cinder took a moment to steady her aim and Marcus fired again, striking the fire extinguisher pipe running along the ceiling. The spray of water drenched Cinder, throwing up a massive cloud of steam. She separated her bow into blades, but Marcus, concealed by the steam, hurdled her and vanished into the far end of the factory. With a growl, she followed. Behind her, Emerald pulled air back into her lungs, coughing and gasping, and retrieved her weapons.

            The fire was spreading, but not fast. This far from the blaze, the room was almost pitch-black. Cinder sheathed one of her blades and ignited a ball of flame in the palm of her hand. She strode forward, eyes darting about the room for any movement.

            She didn’t have to wait long. Marcus broke cover, darting out from behind a corner and diving into a room just ahead of her fireball. The door slammed shut behind him and met Cinder, going the other way. She slammed it open again, a handswidth from closing fully, and charged through. The room was small, metal, and filled with shelves – a freezer, albeit one not yet working, or filled with temperature-sensitive components. As she processed this, Marcus stepped out from behind the door and fired a burst of bullets at her.

            Cinder recoiled, bringing her weapons up to protect herself, and Marcus slipped around the door and slammed it shut behind him. Cinder lunged for the handle, grabbing it and trying to wrench it open, but Marcus planted a solid kick in the door mechanism, mangling it, and left. His Aura flickered back to life around him as he found the exit and pulled it open.

 

            When his father emerged from the factory, backlit by flames, but Cinder and Emerald didn’t, Mercury tried to struggle to his feet. Neo pulled him back down, keeping him hidden behind a tarp-covered crate.

            “You want to just sit here?” Mercury hissed.

            Neo shook her head, grimacing. When Mercury tried to rise again, she poked him in the ribs. He sunk back down with a grunt of pain.

            “…Fine.”

            Mercury glanced over the crate again. He could only just make out Marcus. The assassin turned in a slow circle, examining his surroundings. When the distant wail of sirens intruded on his search, he sighed. Marcus turned and left, vanishing into the night.

            With a grunt of effort, Mercury got to his feet, Neo supporting him. They made their way towards the street, giving the burning building a wide berth.

            “Hey!” Emerald called. “Stick together, jerk!”

            Mercury and Neo turned to find Emerald and Cinder emerging from the remains of the factory, Cinder supporting Emerald. Despite everything, Mercury found himself grinning.

            “What kept you two?” Mercury asked, careful not to sound too worried.

            “Don’t ask.” Cinder replied.

            “Did we win?” Emerald asked.

            Neo shook her head, then mimed someone walking away with her fingers.

            Emerald sighed.

            “We can worry about that later.” Cinder said. “For now, let’s make sure we’re not going to be charged with arson.”

            “There’s a bunch of unconscious thugs that-a-way that should help our case.” Mercury said.

            Neo made a gesture of confusion that needed no translation.

            “I’ll explain everything, I promise.”

            “…You’d better,” Emerald said.

            The team waited for the sirens to arrive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the Marcus fight, and also nearly the end of Volume One! Hard to believe it's been fourteen weeks since I started this thing. Anyway, there's one more chapter left in this volume, and then I will begin a new work for Volume Two. It'll keep things neater, I think. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and my take on Marcus, who's almost a blank slate. Seriously, I think this is the second fic to feature him at all. I'll see you next Sunday, because this schedule shift is permanent, for the final chapter of Volume One!


	16. Volume One, Chapter Twelve: Trust

Volume One, Chapter Twelve: Trust

 

            The fire roared as it spread across the warehouse, grown past the point of suppression. Black smoke billowed out into the sky, and the flickering flames below cast light and warmth on the four students who sat nearby, catching their breath. In the distance, closing in, sirens wailed. None of them moved or stood as the noise grew louder. Cinder peered into the darkness, searching for any sign of movement. With her night vision ruined by the blazing warehouse, it was largely futile, but she continued nonetheless. To her left and right lay Emerald and Neo. Their weapons were drawn, but the way they slumped against available objects did not inspire confidence.

            “You’re sure this guy won’t come back?” Cinder asked.

            “Not for a while.” Mercury said. He sat slumped against a crate, eyes closed and head tipped back. He kept one hand pressed against his ribs, but was already breathing much easier. “The authorities will be here any minute now, and he has no way of knowing we haven’t run off. There’s no good reason to hang around.”

            “We _will_ be discussing this further once we return to Beacon.” Cinder said.

            “That assumes we make it that far.” Mercury said. “The police are going to have a lot of questions for us.”

            “We haven’t done anything but defend ourselves,” Emerald pointed out. “What’re they going to do?”

            Neo signed _In fairness, I did start that fire._

            Mercury winced. “That too, but professional assassins don’t just show up. They’re going to have questions.”

            “We do, too.” Cinder deadpanned.

            “I promised to explain, didn’t I? I’m just saying that we’re going to be tied up here for a while.”

            “Ah – that actually could be a problem.” Emerald said. “I’ve got a bit of a record – petty theft, mostly, but still."

            Mercury arched an eyebrow at her, which she studiously ignored.

            "The point is, the police might be interested in me for entirely unrelated reasons.”

            _Don’t worry too much about it. Just repeat after me…_

            The sirens arrived. Tires squealed and doors slammed, disgorging law enforcement onto the street.

 

            “Well, Officer, I was walking down the street, minding my own business, when I was attacked by a group of criminals. I fled, managing to subdue several of those appallingly violent thugs, and made it here.”

 

            “I got a call asking for help – it sounded like Mercury was in trouble. We headed here, looking for him.”

 

            “We were a few floors up that building when Mercury found us. We were about to leave when someone collapsed it.”

 

            _We fought back, retreating into that building, and he set it on fire. We managed to fend him off long enough for you to get close, and when he heard the sirens he fled._

“It’s night-time, what do you expect? He was tall and fast, that’s what I know.”

“Didn’t see any faces.”

 

            “I never saw his face.”

 

            _Sorry, I didn’t get a good look._

The quartet was reunited with surprising speed. Firefighters moved in to contain the blaze as police sealed off the area. Across the street, the team watched the authorities work.

 

            “I’ll be honest,” Emerald said, “I expected that to go much worse than it did, especially given how thick you were laying it on, Mercury. Once we told them we were Beacon students, they lost interest.”

            Neo smiled. _Beacon gets a lot of leeway, since they produce Hunters. We’re expected to be somewhat misanthropic and hard to control. If they decide we started the fire, which they have no reason to, they’ll bill Beacon and be done with it._

Emerald frowned. “That’s it? I expected more oversight.”

            _Most of the discipline for Hunters comes from within the organization, at least for serious crimes. Beacon won’t step in for a parking ticket, and they’ll cut us loose if we do something really serious, but most other things are dealt with in-house._

“How do you know all this?” Cinder asked. “It doesn’t seem like the kind of thing they put on the orientation materials.”

            _I asked around, did some reading,_ Neo deflected. _The point is, they’re going to focus on the guy who attacked us._

            “So,” Cinder said, “Would you care to explain who that person was? I heard him call your name.”

            Mercury sighed. “You’re not going to wait until we get back to Beacon?”

            “He managed to defeat three of us in moments, Mercury!” Emerald said. “Even after Cinder broke through his Aura-“

            “You broke through his Aura?” Mercury interjected.

            “I hit him with a five-digit sum of Dust.” Cinder said. “Even without Aura, he was formidable.”

            “What’s more, I think he’d have noticed you if I hadn’t been swarming him with illusions at the time. He _knew_ you, Mercury. What’s going on?”

            Mercury looked to Neo for support, but she just made an impatient ‘Get on with it’ gesture.

            “All right, your call." Mercury got to his feet but remained hunched, eyes on the ground. "Let’s go, we can talk on the way to the Bullhead.”

 

            Mercury talked, and they listened. He told them about his childhood, how he grew up learning to fight, how he fought and killed for his father. They reached the Bullhead, and he told them about how he lost his legs. By the time they reached Beacon, the campus was silent. The students were fast asleep in their dorms. It seemed impossible that their fight with CRDL had only been that morning.

 

            “…Once I could handle it, I came here for more training. I learned plenty of new tricks, fighting whoever people would pay me to fight, but all my money went towards keeping my legs working. Becoming a Hunter seemed like a step up in terms of pay and safety. For what it's worth, I never thought he'd attack me while I was attending Beacon. I didn't think he'd find me at all - I hadn't used my real name anywhere before Vale in at least a decade. I figured I'd be safe."

            The others disembarked from the Bullhead, stretching out cramped sore muscles. Mercury stood and walked to the edge of the Bullhead, but did not leave.

            “That’s my story. That’s why Marcus attacked me. There you go.”

            He paused, swallowed, then forged ahead, pulling one corner of his mouth into something resembling a smirk.

            “Still want me on the team?” Mercury asked, keeping his tone level and calm. He wouldn’t beg. Not now, not ever.

           

            Emerald stepped forward and grabbed him, hauling him off the Bullhead.

            “Wh-Hey!”

           He stumbled as he landed, but kept his balance. As he straightened up, Emerald pulled him into a hug.

            “We are absolutely not throwing you off the team, idiot. Isn’t that right, Cinder?”

            Cinder paused.

            “ _Isn’t that right, Cinder?”_

            She sighed. “I suppose it would wrong to deny you for your family. You can stay – so long as you continue to behave acceptably.”

            Neo pushed Cinder, sending her stumbling forward into Emerald and Mercury, then joined the group hug herself.

            “Y’know,” Emerald started, “Not many people can say they survived a fight with a professional assassin. We make a pretty good team.”

            “That’s true.” Cinder said. “Training your replacement would be more trouble than it’s worth.”

            “Are you – Emerald, did Cinder just make a joke?”

            “Oh, shut up.”

            “…Thank you.”

 

            Elsewhere, a Scroll rang. “Rang” was perhaps the wrong word – the customized ringtone was a barely audible set of tones.

            “Yes?”

            “Have you seen the news?”

            “I assume you’re referring to the arson this evening.”

            “I have enough to worry about without you making my life harder. Leave the smaller businesses be. We’ve discussed this.”

            “Calm down. My people had nothing to do with this.”

            “Do you expect me to believe that?”

            “It’s the truth – we’re all getting ready for next week’s performance.”

            “Fine. Then find the people who did and expose them. Until you do, people will assume that I had a hand in this.”

            “If it would make you feel better, we could burn down something of yours to go with it.”

            “Do you think this is funny?”

            “I think you’re micromanaging. Let me deal with it.”

 

            Still elsewhere, Ozpin received a message. It read: _Found her. She’s safe._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's Volume One, also known as Volume Mercury-Needs-A-Hug. (And he finally gets one!) We're mostly wrapping things up here, with a few bits of Ominous Foreshadowing thrown in. It's been a crazy ride, keeping this story on track with weekly updates, and it's helped keep me focused and writing. That said, I will be taking a week-long hiatus to prepare for Volume Two and rebuild my buffer. The next few weeks are going to be packed, and having a week to get ready will really improve the quality of my work. The story isn't done, not by a long shot. To everyone reading, commenting, and kudosing: Thank you. Doing this is much more fun with an appreciative audience, and you guys are the best. You've even caught mistakes I've made, which is great - I'd hate to have those clogging up my fic forever. Thanks for sticking around, and CMSN will be back for Volume Two, the second work in this series.


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